


Flock of Birds

by katnisseverdennys



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, and Baby Robb Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-22
Updated: 2015-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 18:05:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 45,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1827358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katnisseverdennys/pseuds/katnisseverdennys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lyanna Stark can handle hordes of rambunctious kindergartners, it's her job. However, she's not entirely sure she can handle the enigmatic Oberyn Martell, the father of one of her students. AU. HIATUS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

_"Flock of birds_

_Hovering above_

_Just a flock of birds_

_That's how you think of love"_

_-O by Coldplay_

***

"Sasha, please don't do that."

"But Ms. Stark! She started it!"

It was a rough day for Lyanna Stark, and her rambunctious kindergarteners were making it harder to refuse another cup of very strong coffee. She still had to grade their spelling quizzes after school, and at least five kids today refused to settle down for their nap. Not to mention that Principal Arryn was starting to get on her ass about preparing her students for the state mandated tests they'll take next year. _They're five, they don't need to be preparing for the ACT,_ she huffed. She was just about to pull her hair out when a few of the girls started fighting over one of the stuffed animals, and she had to physically separate them before anything got too serious. Lyanna did not feel like making any phone calls home today. The only way she consoled herself was that school would be out in ten more minutes, and she would finally be able to breathe. A loud cry came from behind her near the book section of her classroom, and Lyanna felt like she could cry too. She felt a strong migraine coming on, and she told Sasha and Laura to be good towards each other or she would have to put them in time out. Lyanna turned towards the source of the crying and saw the tiniest girl in her class, Tyene crying and holding her hand delicately. Lyanna went into teacher mode and rushed over.

"Tyene! What happened sweetie? Does your wrist hurt?" Lyanna tried to squat as delicately as she could in her dress and leggings, but decided to just kneel on her knees next to the crying little girl.

"I…I knocked over the book…and it hit my fingers really bad." The little blonde hiccupped through her tears. Lyanna took her hand gently, looking at the now bruising fingers, and the slight cuts near her nails. They were starting to bleed so Lyanna carefully got the tiny girl up on her feet and walked over to the small bathroom in the classroom where she kept the first aid kit.

"How did you knock the book over Tyene?" Lyanna asked gently. Tyene was still trying to control her hiccups and Lyanna took a tissue to wipe her tears off of her chubby cheeks. The poor thing was still shaken up, so Lyanna pulled out a few band aids to cover the various cuts on Tyene's fingers.

"I…I bumped into the bookshelf…and the book was heavy…and it fell." Lyanna smiled softly at the little girl, letting her pick the choice of glitter or _Winnie the Pooh_ band aids, and finally managed to calm her down. It was no secret that Tyene Martell was incredibly clumsy, in fact, Lyanna had been warned by the preschool teachers down the hall on how many accidents the girl found herself in, but for whatever grace the girl lacked, she made up for in smarts. She was the probably the most intelligent child in the class, easily grasping new concepts, and certainly one of the few that Lyanna had taught in her three years of being a kindergarten teacher. When she was done wrapping the girl's fingers with images of Piglet and Eeyore, she tried to make the girl smile and forget about what happened.

"Don't be sad Tyene, you'll be okay." Tyene looked at her shyly, her big brown black eyes blinking innocently. Lyanna smiled and wiped away another stray tear, resting her thumb on her cheek.

"Pinky promise?" Tyene held out her tiny little pinky, waiting for her to take it.

"Pinky promise."

Suddenly the bell rang, and Lyanna was thrown for a loop. Thankfully her students already knew what to do and started putting their chairs up on their desks and cleaning the book station and play area. When they were done, Lyanna was busy roping a few of the rowdy boys to go get their backpacks from their cubbies and stop wrestling each other. She made sure each of her students buttoned up their coats and tucked on their woolen hats because there was a chill in the air with winter coming soon. Some of her students said bye to her cheerfully and went out into the hallway where their parents would be waiting for them, or to wait for the bus outside on the curb. When all her students left the room, Lyanna sighed deeply and plopped down into her comfy chair, trying to get comfortable, closing her eyes, willing her headache to go away. _Maybe I can take a quick snooze before that staff meeting._

"Ms. Stark?" A small voice said in front of her. Lyanna blinked slowly, trying to fight the heaviness bogging down her eyes and faced Tyene, bundled up in her little orange peacoat and hat, holding on to her backpack. _Her parents must have serious money to buy that nice of a coat for a five year old,_ Lyanna wondered.

"Yes Tyene?"

"Um, my daddy said he might be a little late today, and he wasn't outside, umm, can I stay here?" She swung her body back and forth a little bit, clasping her hands together in front of her abdomen and Lyanna fought the urge to 'aww' out loud. She never imagined herself as a teacher, and certainly not teaching kindergarten, but when she shadowed a kindergarten teacher in her senior year of high school for a school project, she found that she was great with small children, and her mentor pointed out that she had a natural gift for teaching, so she ultimately decided to major in elementary education at Westeros University, the school her entire family had attended for generations. Her eldest brother Brandon laughed for ages when she told her family, but her favorite brother Ned smiled and encouraged her to apply.

"Of course Tyene. Do you need me to call your dad?" Tyene shook her head and dropped her bag at the front of Lyanna's desk and came next to where she was sitting, looking curiously at everything on her desk. She was staring at a picture of her family while Lyanna dug up two lollipops for them to share while they waited. She handed it to Tyene and she smiled widely at her, accepting the free candy graciously, thanking her in a sweet voice.

"Who are those people?"

"Oh those are my brothers." Lyanna explained, pulling the picture off her desk and showing it to Tyene so she could have a closer look at the silly portrait of the Stark siblings. The picture was taken at Ned and Catelyn's wedding a year and a half ago. Dressed in their black tuxes and a very pink bridesmaid dress, the siblings were laughing and crossing their eyes at the camera when the reception was in full swing. Ned had some left over cake smashed into his beard and his eyes were full of love, while Brandon was practically on top of Ned's back, laughing loudly. Lyanna had put her younger brother Benjen into a headlock because he made fun of her for crying that Ned was married now, and almost made good of her threat to pour wine on his head. Lyanna had other pictures from the wedding back in her apartment, some of them professional wedding party pictures, and then the rest of them selfies with friends and family members. She had a great picture of her and Catelyn making duck faces into her camera while shit faced drunk, hilarious because Catelyn was the definition of a lady, that she liked to tease her sister in law now and then about. It wasn't the most appropriate picture, considering how hammered they were, to put on her desk in her classroom, but it was the picture that always got her spirits back up after a long day. Even now, she was smiling widely at the memory.

"You have three brothers?! Wow, I wish I had a brother." Tyene exclaimed. Lyanna laughed, and put the picture back on her desk, sucking on her lollipop more, pushing her bangs back with one arm.

"You don't have any brothers Tyene?"

"No," She pouted. "I have two big sisters. Their names are Obara and Nymeria, but they always play with each other instead of me."

"It's okay, I was the baby for a while before I got a baby brother. See, that's him." Lyanna pointed to Benjen in the photo. "My big brothers never played with me either. It used to make me really mad." Lyanna made a sour face for show, and Tyene giggled loudly. She was halfway through her lollipop and she slurped loudly on it while Lyanna liked to take her time. Her headache was slowly going away and she felt like singing.

"Tyene?" A voice called out in the hallway, and both Lyanna and Tyene looked up. The excitement on the little girl's face was equivalent to receiving five candies, and she scurried as quickly as she quickly as she could in her coat to retrieve her forgotten backpack. A tall, lean olive skinned man, dressed sharply in a thigh length black peacoat, nice black slacks and a growing grin appeared in the doorway while Lyanna stood up, brushing off some dust on the back of her dress. "Daddy!" The man squatted down closer to Tyene's height as she launched herself into his arms, giving him a sloppy kiss on the cheek and watched as he returned the favor, blowing a raspberry on her face and making her giggle. Lyanna smiled inwardly at the happy duo, and started to clear her desk of wrappers and place some papers to grade in her bag when the man came up to her desk, clutching his daughter tightly in his arms while she dug her face in his neck, her red backpack with an orange sun on it hanging over his arm. He towered over her, and she felt very small in that moment. Lyanna felt herself flustering over his dark, broody stare and waited for him to speak first.

"Ms. Stark right? Thanks so much for staying with Tyene, I had a meeting scheduled too late today." He spoke easily, adjusting his daughter and moving his hand to shake hers. He had a nice firm grip, and she hoped hers hadn't come off as weak, or sweaty. There was no denying that Tyene's father was attractive and Lyanna was trying her damn best to not blush in front of him. He was at least in his mid thirties, and she tried to shake off the image of his smirk out of her mind.

"It's no problem, Mr. Martell. Tyene is such a nice girl to be around." Lyanna said sincerely. She wasn't supposed to play favorites, but a small part of her loved Tyene more than the other children in her class. At least she knew where the little girl got her charm from.

"Daddy, I got a boo-boo." Tyene showed her father her bruised hand and fingers, and his eyebrows furrowed with concern, taking her pale hand into his, inspecting it closely. He sighed a little, and kissed her hand gently.

"How did this happen, Tyene?"

"I ran into a bookshelf…." Clearly knowing she was leaving something else out, Mr. Martell raised his eyebrows at his daughter.

"…and a book fell on me." He laughed for a second, thumbing her hand softly, murmuring 'clumsy girl' under his breath, loud enough for Lyanna to hear.

"I would just ice her hand when you get home, maybe put some anti-septic cream on her cuts." Lyanna spoke softly. He nodded his head in agreement, thanking her for the advice.

"Thanks, I never know what to do when this one is always hurting herself." He smiled at her, flashing his straight white teeth.

"Comes with experience." They both laughed slightly. Lyanna gathered her bag and coat and they started to move towards the door. Once outside, she closed the door and juggled with her keys for a moment before locking the classroom, silently hoping she didn't forget anything. She turned towards Tyene and her father, who was lightly scratching the scruff that traced her father's jawline and cheeks. She coughed her throat slightly, catching their attention.

"It was nice meeting you Mr. Martell," Lyanna stuck her hand out again, the man taking shaking it, a smirk on his face.

"Please, call me Oberyn," Lyanna didn't know what came over her, because she really shouldn't be on a first name basis with the parents of her students, but something about Oberyn drew her in, and sucking all of the common sense she had in her mind.

"You can call me Lyanna." They both smiled at each other for a minute too long, and in too friendly of a way, but Lyanna liked the feeling, and she couldn't really bring herself to care.

"Can I call you Lyanna?" Tyene interrupted, and Oberyn laughed loudly.

"No, she's Ms. Stark to you." Oberyn explained, and Tyene pouted and muttered under her breath 'no fair'. Oberyn looked towards Lyanna and rolled his eyes, mouthing 'kids' and grinning. She couldn't help but grin back, shaking her head as she threw her keys into her purse.

"Have a nice day Lyanna." He said, starting to turn and walk away, Tyene waving enthusiastically at her, and she returned the wave as cheerfully as she could.

"You too." She said softly.

Lyanna walked to her staff meeting in a daze, replaying what had happened in her head over and over again. She replayed the sound of Oberyn's smooth voice as she plopped down next to her friend Maege Mormant, and even in the meeting she visualized his face, from his broad forehead and closely cut black hair, down to his straight nose with just the slightest bump, and his thin pink lips. His tanned skin somehow managed to glow golden in the fluorescent lighting in her room and Lyanna groaned, trying to shake Tyene's father out of her head. It wouldn't be good at all to have a crush on a student's parent, and besides, he was most likely married to someone equally as beautiful and had three daughters. She just thought he was attractive, that's all. _There's nothing wrong in thinking someone is nice looking,_ she tried to console herself, putting on her woolen coat before heading out to her car after the meeting finished.

It was nothing.

***

Except that it seemed to be something.

Every day for the past two weeks, Tyene Martell told Lyanna that her father would be a little late to pick her up, and would stay inside with her after school, talking more about their families and all of their favorite things to do. And when Oberyn came to pick his daughter up, he seemed to talk with Lyanna a little bit more, picking up from yesterday's topic. When the conversation turned dry and they were outside the classroom, the silence was comfortable, and they were both content to just stand there looking at each other, smiling shyly. He was cocky, she could tell that much, but it didn't bother her as much as it did with her ex. He knew when to reel it in, and she appreciated that. Tyene watched them both with an appraising eye, too observant for a five year old, and figured that maybe her father kind of, maybe, sorta liked Ms. Stark because why would he tell her that he'll be late to pick her up, but sit in his car outside with Obara and Nymeria for a few minutes while she sat with her teacher?

But Lyanna did not like where this was going. She couldn't tell what Oberyn's intentions are, if he was just a talker or maybe he was interested in her. She didn't know a single thing about him, other than the small tidbits she had learned during their short conversations. Maege confronted her during recess as she ate a granola bar and asked her what was going on with her and Tyene's dad.

"Nothing's going on," Lyanna muttered, suddenly interested in the nutrition information on the side of her snack. Maege rolled her eyes and popped a few grapes in her mouth.

"Obviously _something_ , unless you two just like to stare at each other for a couple of minutes?"

"Maybe we like to appreciate the silence!" She threw her hands in the air half heartedly.

"Aha! You said 'we'! There _is_ something between you two!"

"Jeez Maege, we just talk! He's probably married anyways." Lyanna said dejectedly, munching loudly and staring at some of her students playing on the slide structure. She bound her coat a little more tightly around her when the cold chill blew their way.

"Well have you facebook stalked him?" Lyanna blanched. She didn't think to try and find him on facebook or google him. Maege sighed dramatically. "Honestly, Lyanna, no wonder you're single. What's his name?" She pulled out her phone and opened up the internet page.

"Oberyn Martell." Maege looked at her then, eyes wide. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Lyanna. Rose. Stark. Are you telling me that you have been flirting with _Oberyn Martell?_ " Lyanna laughed and Maege glared at her.

"What? Is he famous?"

"He and his brother are the most famous businessmen in the city, Lyanna! They're filthy rich! They have their own company! Hell, they were even in Forbes. Oh my God, I can't believe I teach _Oberyn Martell's_ daughter Nymeria. I feel like the most important 2nd grade teacher ever." Maege sat back and stared at Lyanna who looked back, surprised. "Let's stalk him."

Suddenly, two older girls came in front of them, shivering despite their warm looking jackets. One girl was taller, holding a few inches over the other. Her bluntly cut black hair came up to her shoulders and she had a chubby face. She had a small scar over one of her eyebrows but she didn't seem too interested to be there. The other girl, clearly the more fashionable of the two, had longer hair wrapped in a braid and a ribbon at the bottom with a thin elegant face. They both had the same almond shaped brown eyes, and Lyanna tried to place where else she had seen those eyes before. She guessed that they were sisters since they looked so alike. She had a slow burning thought that they were Oberyn's other daughters. Maege gasped next to her.

"Nymeria! You still have lunch! Your recess isn't for another fifteen minutes!"

"It's okay Ms. Mormant! Mr. Lannister said it would be alright if we left early." Maege and Lyanna looked towards each other, half smirking.

"Classic Tyrion," Lyanna snickered, taking a sip of her water. Tyrion Lannister was a sixth grade teacher who was well liked but also very feared by the older student population in the school. Many incoming students in his class think he'd be an easy target since he was a dwarf, but they soon learned their lesson when he assigned them their large reading and homework assignments on the second day of school. He was also infamous for not giving a shit during his lunch bells. The two girls turned to Lyanna, and the younger one smiled widely, nudging the taller one and giggling.

"Are you Ms. Stark?"

"Yes, do you need something?"

"No…" She giggled and the older girl rolled her eyes. Lyanna looked towards Maege, raising an eyebrow at her. Maege just shrugged her shoulders, she didn't know what the girls were up to either. Nymeria nudged the other girl again, pulling out a small dark green moleskin journal out of her light blue jacket and handed it over to Lyanna. She took it from Nymeria, hesitating when she accepted it, confused.

"Daddy said to give this to you."

"What?" The two girls smirked at each other and screamed out 'BYE!' to the two women, running in the opposite direction and back to the cafeteria, their coats flapping in the cold wind. Lyanna stood up, yelling after them to come back but they were already to the doors and bolted in. She looked at Maege, incredulous at what just occurred.

"Is there anything written in it?" Lyanna flipped through the pages of the journal, finding nothing written, and shook her head no.

"Okay, come with me, we're taking a bathroom break." The two women escorted themselves into Lyanna's classroom and opened the door to the tiny restroom. Maege pulled out Lyanna's purse from behind her desk and started rifling through it. "What the hell Maege?" She huffed at her friend.

"Don't you have any make up? Eyeliner? Blush? Maybe some lipstick? Ooh, red lipstick looks so nice on you…"

"What are you talking about?" Maege looks up, exasperated at her clueless friend. She went back to shifting through Lyanna's purse, finding some worn down eyeliner and old chapstick. She held up the chapstick to her friend, unimpressed.

"Is this what I've taught you?"

"I'm not in 2nd grade, you haven't taught me anything." She snickered while her friend glowered at her.

"Smart ass. Sit down, I'm going to make you look good for Oberyn."

"What!"

"The man gave you a journal! You love that shit! Give him something back!"

"Like my dignity?"

"Shush."

"Maege, recess is about to be over, I have to escort my kids back in!"

"Chill out! This will literally take a minute." Lyanna was forced to sit still while her friend applied her eyeliner as quickly as she could, adding a thick layer of the gel onto her eyelids, making them seem brighter.

"There! Now you look cute! Ooh take down your hair from your ponytail, it'll make you look all young and pretty." Lyanna snorted, doing as she was bid. She looked at herself in the mirror briefly. Her grey eyes seemed to stare back at her, wondering what the hell she was doing. Maege was right in saying that her dark brown hair down made her look younger, but Lyanna wondered if she looked too young.

"I look like jail bait."

"No you don't, you gorgeous pile of bullshit. Believe in yourself!" Lyanna sighed, walking out of the bathroom and putting her grey woolen coat back on, getting ready to escort her students back inside to a warm room.

"Maege, he could be married."

"Did you see a ring?"

"Well no, but-"

"He might not be! And why would he send you a gift? _Through his daughter,_ might I add, if he was married?"

"Sadist?"

"Maybe. Just-" Maege took a moment to pick her words, stepping out into the cold air near the playground, holding the door open for Lyanna. "Just _try,_ Lyanna. You haven't given any guy a chance since Robert." Lyanna's face darkened at the mention of Robert's name.

"You can bitch all you want, but I think this guy could be good for you. You're all smiles when you walk in every morning, and smiling when you leave." Maege said as her parting words, leaving to retrieve her kids from the lunch room so they could have recess. Lyanna waited for a couple of more minutes, before yelling for her kids to line up so she could take a head count. After catching a few kids hiding from coming back inside, she led her students back into the cozy classroom and watched as they hung up their coats on the rack and took out their notebooks to write what they did today as a daily exercise. Lyanna thought it important that the kids start writing, just to get in the habit from an earlier age. It was also a way of determining their speed of learning. At the moment though, Lyanna was too preoccupied with the green journal in her hands, holding on to it tightly, so she was too distracted too enthusiastically encourage her students to write a few sentences in their notebooks. _Why would he just give me a journal? And why would he send his daughters to give it to me? It wasn't even Tyene._ Lyanna wondered.

When the students writing exercise was done, Lyanna gave the rest of the day as free playtime. She settled in the book station on an uncomfortable, plastic pink chair, for the few students who would want her to read them a story, still looking towards the journal sitting on her desk. She went through the motions of being a teacher like any other day, but her mind was just not processing anything. Only when the bell rang for the school day to be over did Lyanna finally snap out of it. When all her students said bye for the weekend, she plopped down into her chair. She didn't even realize it was Friday. Looking around for Tyene's little blonde head to tell her that her dad would be late again, she smacked her forehead and realized one of her mistakes. Tyene had been called in sick this morning. _I told that girl to keep her hat on yesterday._

"Ms. Stark?" A knock on her door called out. She knew it was Oberyn, but she wasn't sure if she had the guts to face him for some reason. She laughed slightly when she realized what he had called her.

"I thought we were on a first name basis." He grinned from the doorway, walking into her classroom slowly, stopping in front of her desk. He stared at her for a few moments, his dark stare turning a look of wonderment. Lyanna stared back at him, her grey storm eyes not backing down, and he felt a little bit of his gut tighten.

"So did I." They remained silent for another minute, breaking eye contact finally. Oberyn caught sight of the journal he sent her through his daughters and smiled inwardly. Lyanna caught him looking at it with a small smile on his face. She noted that he looked really good when we was just smiling, not smirking, but a genuine smile that graced his lips and showed the dimples in his right cheek. His laugh lines were more prominent in the sunlight that streamed through large window by her desk, and she could feel herself losing whatever control she had over herself.

"Thank you the journal, Oberyn." She whispered, half hoping he wouldn't hear it. He made eye contact with her again, not blinking once.

"You're welcome." He whispered back.

"What did you get this for?" He furrowed his eyebrows, surprised that she didn't know.

"Tyene…she said your birthday was over the weekend. You must have told the class and she mentioned it to me. I- I'm sorry if it was out of line, I wasn't really thinking when I bought it-"

"No, no it's okay, I was just surprised. Thank you, really, this is very sweet." Lyanna had admittedly forgotten that her birthday was tomorrow, and that she casually mentioned it when a student asked when her birthday was during a birthday party earlier in the week. She had never in a million years thought that Oberyn Martell would give her a birthday present.

"It's no problem, really, you can think of it as from both me and Tyene." She smiled and gathered up her coat, buttoning it as fast as she could. She slipped the journal into her bag and slipped it over her shoulder, following Oberyn out the door. She fumbled with the keys for a minute, almost dropping them before catching herself. When she was done, she faced Oberyn, both with little smiles on their face.

"Can I walk you to your car?" He offered and she nodded her head shyly. This wasn't like her, Lyanna thought. She never turned to mush, even around attractive men. They took their time walking out of the school and into the parking lot, not saying anything. Oberyn Martell was a confident man, he had to be to get where he was today in his life, but walking next to his daughter's teacher Ms. Stark had shoved all his confidence to the side. He didn't know why, he was so comfortable around women to charm them, but something felt different with Lyanna. She was beautiful for sure, her long face held elegance to it. Maybe seeing her that day he was late to pick up Tyene, watching her with his daughter had filled his heart with some type of joy. Women only liked him for his money, and the one night stands, but they never liked his daughters, who meant them world to him. Maybe he had such an attraction to Lyanna because she loved his daughter, and not him, and it made him want her even more. When they arrived to Lyanna's beat up Toyota, he had to calm himself down and stop being jittery. Confidence was key.

"Lyanna?"

"Mmhmm," She said, fiddling with her keys, opening her car door and looking towards him, waiting for him to continue.

"Listen," He cleared his throat. "I really like you Lyanna. I was thinking maybe we could go out for a cup of coffee some time?" Lyanna hesitated for a moment, thinking she should turn Oberyn down, before remembering Maege's words in the afternoon. She took out her phone and handed it to him.

"Just punch in your number, and we can try for next weekend." Oberyn grinned then, pulling out his own phone and handing it to her, both of them plugging their phone numbers in. When they handed their phone back to one another, Oberyn hung around for another minute, before catching a glimpse of his daughters Obara and Nymeria watching them from his Jeep, making kissing faces at him and giggling. He wanted to groan, but he also didn't want to alert Lyanna towards his daughters behavior.

"I'll talk to you later, Lyanna." He said, motioning towards his car. "The girls are getting restless." He chuckled, starting to walk.

"See you later," Lyanna called out, opening the door to her car.

"Oh, Lyanna?"

"Yes?"

He smiled softly then. "Happy birthday." He turned around and broke into a light jog towards his car, opening his door with ease and jumping in. Lyanna watched as he pulled out of the parking lot with ease, finally leaving the school, and Lyanna behind.

She sat in her car seat then, turning her engine on and waiting for her car to heat up. She rested her head on the seat, looking towards the ceiling, flashing back to what just happened.

"Holy shit," She muttered to herself. Her phone buzzed, and she half jumped on it, hoping it would be Oberyn. She was disappointed when it was only her brother Brandon texting her about tomorrow's get together.

_26 shots for 26 years of life tomorrow? –Brandon_

She laughed and shot a reply back.

_Bring it on. Do I get to meet your gf finally? –Lya_

_Hell no. Can't afford for you freaks to scare her. –Brandon_

_You're actually serious this time? Finally gonna provide dad with grandbabies? –Lya_

_Dad has baby Robb to play with. The family name will prevail! –Brandon_

Lyanna laughed at her brother's stupidity and put her phone down to get ready to drive until a thought popped into her head. If there was one gossip in town that could help her with information about Oberyn, it was her dearest sister in law, Catelyn. She picked up her phone, pulling up Cat's number and shot her a text.

_Hey, what do you know about Oberyn Martell?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case by the end of this chapter you couldn't tell, I watch a lot of TV.
> 
> I hope this chapter is up to par! What do you guys think Robert did that messed things up so badly?
> 
> Please review! It's greatly appreciated, and thank you for reading!

_"They said they could restore me_

_Restore life the way it should be_

_I'm waiting for this cough syrup_

_to come down"_

_-Cough Syrup by Young the Giant_

***

"SURPRISE!" Lyanna was startled as she walked into her father's house, hand on her chest and half scared to death by everyone in the living room, surprised by their party hats and laughter. She thought she was just going to have dinner with her family on her birthday. She did nothing special at all that saturday but binge watch all her favorite shows on Netflix and text Tyrion and Bronn the gym teacher about their _Breaking Bad_ theories. She only wore her favorite casual dress, tightly bound into her winter coat, not suspecting anything big to started laughing along with everyone else, shedding her outer clothes and giving a tight hug to Ned who was closest to her. When they leaned back, Ned was smiling hugely at her.

"Happy birthday Lyanna," Ned half whispered. Eddard Stark was the quietest sibling of the Stark children, but also the wisest. Lyanna and Brandon weren't known for their wise decisions, and Benjen could be an idiot at times too, but Ned always knew when to rein them in and stop them from embarrassing themselves as well. Everyone always knew Ned would be the first to settle down and have a family, the rest of his siblings were too independent and wild for that. Of course, it didn't stop their father from bugging them when they were going to get married and provide grandchildren. Lyanna smiled widely at him, hugging him again and snuggling herself in her big brother's familiar arms.

"All this?" She asked, laughing. Brandon came up behind them, burrowing them both in a big bear hug, leaving a sloppy kiss on Lyanna's cheek, which she wiped off with a gross face, wiping his slobber back onto his sleeve. She looked towards her eldest brother, noting he cut his usually longer brown hair close to his forehead, showing off more of his face. He was in the middle of growing a beard and she admitted that it looked good on him.

"We had to go all out this year!" He took a sip from his well nursed beer. "You only turn twenty six once."

"Yea, I've heard. Where's Benjen? He owes me a big hug too."

"Little shit messed up the blender so he's wearing his dunce cap in the kitchen while he tries to fix it." Lyanna cackled at Ben's misfortune and promised she would go to see him when she met everyone else waiting for her. The next person she went to was her father Rickard, who was resting on the couch, holding his arms open for her. She sat down next to him and hugged him for all her might. Rickard Stark was greying majorly now, and had received some nasty burns on his arms over the summer from a grilling accident. After a week stay in the hospital, it was decided that he would stay with Ned and Catelyn for a couple of months so they could look after him. Cat was a stay at home mom anyways, and she could help him with anything he needed, like applying new gauze or helping him with his pain medication. He didn't complain as much as he said he would, because after all he got to play with his grandson all day.

"Mmm happy birthday Lya,"

"Thanks dad. How have you been?" The party was being hosted at her father's place, where they all grew up in a large, open tudor style home called Winterfell House. The house and the surrounding few acres of land had been belonged to their family for decades. He had just recently moved back into his house, ready to take care of himself, complaining that his children were smothering him. Lyanna felt bad that she didn't get enough time to visit her father, because as much as he said he wasn't, she knew he was lonely, and that's why he was always pestering them for grandkids, so his children would have an excuse to visit him more often.

"Fine, fine. How has work been?"

"Good, keeps me in shape," She joked and he chuckled, clapping her on the back, before beckoning her to lean in, wanting to whisper something in her ear.

"Renly is here, he's in the back." Lyanna froze. Renly went wherever his older brothers used to go. If he was here, then surely…

"Is he here too?" Her father shook his head, and Lyanna breathed a sigh of relief.

"No, he came alone. If you want him gone though, just say the word." He looked her in the eye, waiting for her demand that Renly be thrown out. But Lyanna didn't have a problem with Renly. He was always just Robert's sweet little brother who loved coming to her for advice because she actually took him seriously, and didn't disregard his feelings as girlish or whiny. In fact, Lyanna was the one of the first people Renly came out to.

"No, let Renly stay. He shouldn't be punished for his brother's mistakes." Lyanna dismissed her father's concerns, getting up from the couch, stating that she would go greet everyone else at the party, and maybe hunt down some food as well. She was about to go snatch some chicken wings from the counter when a huge shadow towered over her all of a sudden, and she turned around to see her good friend from high school Brienne Tarth holding a clumsily wrapped present in her hands, smiling shyly.

"Brienne! God, it's been ages since I've seen you!" She hugged her old friend tightly; noting she still kept her short blonde hair cut from high school, and if possible, had maybe gotten taller. When they both let go of each other, Lyanna noticed the equally as tall, handsome blonde man with a cutting jaw standing behind Brienne, looking uncomfortable and looking around the house. "Who's this?" She asked Brienne, even more curious to know why her quiet friend was blushing. Brienne looked back at her shyly, and Lyanna looked at her in surprise. Brienne's friend seemed to realize that he was being talked about and smiled at Lyanna shaking her hand, his green eyes twinkling.

"I'm Jaime Lannister, I work with Brienne."

"We had to finish a project at work today, so I asked Jaime if he wanted to come with me, I hope you don't mind." Brienne explained. Lyanna nodded her head and thought about Jaime's last name.

"Are you by any chance related to Tyrion Lannister?" Jaime's face lit up at the name.

"He's my little brother! I should have realized you would have known him since you both work at the same school. So _you_ are the Lyanna who constantly spoils his favorite shows! He has at numerous points talked shit about your _Mad Men_ theories," He chuckled and she laughed.

"You should tell him to stop by if he's not doing anything!" Jaime shook his head.

"He texted me an hour ago, said he had a hot date." Lyanna snorted.

"Alright, well I have to go say hi to some other people, I'll talk to you guys later," She offered to them, both of them nodding and moving to the other direction. Lyanna grabbed Brienne's arm and gave her a look, wanting to know more about her and Jaime. They were both all smiles around each other, and she had caught Brienne's happy face while she talked to Jaime. Brienne shooed her off, promising to tell her later, and Lyanna was genuinely happy for her old friend. She found Benjen and Catelyn talking in the kitchen, Cat bouncing nine month old Robb, who inherited every one of her features. They both had the same auburn hair and bright blue eyes that seemed to be a trademark on Cat's side of the family. Lyanna noticed that Cat looked exhausted, with what seems like Robb getting heavier by the day, and she knew it was most likely her sister in law who planned the surprise party anyways.

"Can I get a hug from my favorite nephew?" She snuck up on both of them, smiling when they both hugged her, both wishing her a happy birthday. Catelyn gladly handed over Robb to Lyanna, who started tugging on her dark hair, showing Ned's dimpled smile. She readjusted Robb in her arms while Catelyn started talking to her, both effectively ignoring Ben's request to help him fix the blender.

"So what do you need to know about Oberyn Martell?" Catelyn sat down on a kitchen stool, wincing. As much as she loved children, Lyanna was glad she wasn't a mother just yet. She sat down next to her in a different stool, wiping off some of Robb's drool with his bib and poked his cheek, smiling when he giggled.

"Anything you know." Lyanna replied.

"Well, I know he's incredibly rich. He and his older brother Doran have this company, Water Gardens, where they specialize in water filtering any harmful additives or bacteria. I think his older brother takes care of the business aspect of it while Oberyn does all the science, although I've heard he dabbles in some of the business. He's extremely smart," Catelyn took a sip of her water. "I think he has four degrees."

"Four? Holy-" Mindful of the baby sitting in her arms, and Cat's distaste for swearing, Lyanna stopped herself from cursing. "In what?"

"Uh, I think he double majored in chemical engineering and biology for his bachelors, and then I think he has a couple of Masters in chemistry, maybe an MBA?" Catelyn said, pulling out her phone. "It said in this Forbes interview with the two of them, I'll send you the link." Lyanna opened up a pop can and took a long sip. If Oberyn Martell really was that smart and rich, why was he interested in her? He could have found anyone as talented as him, and nearly as beautiful. Lyanna felt her looks didn't nearly compare next to his, and his daughters were already so gorgeous, and she was just a teacher too. Her pay grade was nowhere near what he makes. Obeyn probably made more than her annual salary in a week. She pursed her lips to the side in deep thought, only coming out of it when Robb started squirming in her arms. She readjusted him on her lap so he was sitting with his back right against her stomach and she leant her face into her nephew's soft curls, breathing in deeply at the smell of baby powder and mint. He smelled exactly like his father and grandfather, and Lyanna smiled at the fact, giving her heart some solace. Lyanna still heard Cat rambling on, scrolling through her phone.

"Wait a minute, did you actually take _notes_?" She asked incredulously, trying to get a better look at her phone. She knew Catelyn was a thorough women, but she didn't think she could go this far. Catelyn made a face at her and continued scrolling.

"You didn't tell me much about what's going between you two, but it sounds like you're interested in him Lyanna." She said, continuing with her trivia. "Oh, I forgot! His older sister is married to the senator's son, Rhaegar Targaryen!" Lyanna groaned at that. She couldn't compete with the circles his family belonged in. She leaned back in her seat, defeated, and Robb playing with her bracelet and tugging at her skin, staring at Cat who was smiling at her kindly, her red hair falling over her shoulders and long sleeved white shirt. "Plus he's single…" She continued.

"I'm so in over my head, aren't I?" Lyanna asked.

"I don't think so. He seems like a nice guy. Except for that whole 'Red Viper' thing. Apparently he's really ruthless in his meetings, and they claim he could kill a man with all the chemistry he knows. He's basically your Walter White," She snickered, taking a plastic plate and reaching over for some vegetables and dip.

"Rich, ruthless, and a chemistry genius. My life is a TV show." Lyanna muttered, rubbing at her forehead.

"I think the really funny thing is that your brother is a cop," She groaned even more, electing to take a longer sip of her soda, wishing she could get drunk. Catelyn guffawed at the sight of Ned's sister.

"This is what I get for ruining what happened during the last season, isn't it?" Lyanna murmured to herself.

"Oh stop. Give it a try, he doesn't seem so bad. It's just a cup of coffee, and from what you've told me, it seems like his girls already like you." Catelyn offered, grabbing onto Ned's hand when he walked into the kitchen, smiling at him while he got some food. "He could be good for you." Ned looked up at that, raising his eyebrows at the two women in front of him.

"New boyfriend, Lya?" He asked, a different look in his eye. Lyanna sighed, handing Robb over to Catelyn when he started crying loudly, taking him upstairs to calm him down. _Kid has unfortunate timing._ She thought. Ned sat down, taking over from Cat's spot and chewing loudly as he stared at her. He had been best friends with Robert Baratheon since junior high, encouraging his sister to go out with Robert when he found out that his friend had a massive crush on her, and was joyous to find out they started going on when Lyanna entered her freshman year at Westeros University. He had taken their break up almost as bad as Lyanna did, absolutely furious that his best friend could have betrayed his little sister so badly. Ned had gone to Robert's house and nearly put him former best friend into the hospital when Lyanna told her family what happened. Lyanna, Brandon and their father had to follow Ned in a different car when he stormed off that night, shouting he was going to kill him. Catelyn had screamed for him to come back and stay inside the house, to stay with her, but it was the first time any of them had seen Ned carry the infamous, reckless Stark rage, and they didn't know how to snuff it. It was the only time in their life that Brandon had pulled Ned off of someone in a fight, Ned screaming and thrashing in his arms while Lyanna cried buckets at the scene, begging her brother to stop and nearly fainting when she saw the amount of blood Ned had drained from her ex. Seeing Robert Baratheon, who claimed himself as one of the strongest men on Earth, weak and bloodied, covered black and blue on his lawn at two in the morning had been an image Lyanna tried to forget for months. Robert had tried making up with both of them with intense fervor, but neither of them would bite, and it finally took a nasty phone call from Ned that he would drive Robert's ass down to the police station and drive a boar's spike through him to finally stop the texts and the phone calls. Lyanna had felt terrible many times after that, that it was she who broke their long friendship, but every time she confessed, Ned wrapped her in his arms tightly like their mother used to, and comforted her that nothing had been her fault, that they had both fallen for his lies. As she looked at Ned across from her, listening to everyone else in the living room mingling and having fun, that she was a little intimidated to tell him that she was going on a date with someone, regardless if it even worked out.

"No, I just…might go out with someone." She sighed, staring into her now empty coke can. Ned sighed heavily, leaning back.

"You like him a lot."

"How do you know?" Ned laughed slightly then, grabbing two beers from the cooler behind him and popping them open, handing one to his sister and taking a sip.

"I'm your brother Lya. I know you." They both smiled then, cheering each other and gulping down the alcohol. After a moment, he asked her another question. "What's his name?"

"Oberyn Martell." He raised his eyes at her, surprised.

"Of Water Gardens? Isn't he a little older than you?"

"It's just coffee, Ned." He sighed, scratching his beard.

"How did you two meet?"

"I teach his daughter." Ned had an indiscernible look on his face, blankly staring at her. Lyanna briefly thought that he would forbid her to even talk to him.

"…If he does anything you're not okay with at all, you call me okay?" Lyanna laughed and he glowered, albeit failing to keep a serious face at her. "I'm serious Lya. I will sick my dog unit on him. I've heard he's a powerful man."

"I know you will." She replied softly. He looked at her appraisingly, wondering when his little sister became so mature and worn down. He blamed himself for her depression after the break up with Robert. If he hadn't persuaded her that Robert was a good guy in the beginning, maybe none of this would have happened, and she would be elated at the possibility of going out on dates and relationships. She had never been that keen to go out with Robert anyways, but he pushed her, and for that, Ned would never forgive himself.

"Alright, I'll let you go meet everyone else, no more sad talks on your birthday." He stood up and hugged her. "Go meet Ashara, she's by Brandon near the stairs." Lyanna leaned out of the hug, staring at her brother with wide eyes, putting her hands on her brother's muscles in shock.

"She's here? She's actually here? We're finally meeting her?" Ned laughed and turned Lyanna around, pointing out of the kitchen and to the stairs, where a gorgeous dark haired woman with pale skin sat beside her older brother, holding his hand and laughing sincerely at whatever joke her brother had cracked. Her thin nose and high cheekbones were the highlight of her face, and her pale skin glowed luminously in the harsh light of the hallway.

"No….she's too good to be true. Do you think Brandon hired someone and he's been lying for the past six months?" Lyanna turned back to Ned, pursing her lips when he started laughing heartily. "I'm telling you Ned! He couldn't have pulled that gorgeous of a girl just like that!" She explained.

"Benjen and I already have a bet going. Fifteen dollars to the winner. Ben thinks she was hired, I, however, have more faith in our brother." Lyanna shook her head in awe.

"Is she nice?"

"She's as much of a lady as Catelyn is."

"I'm heading over. Wish me luck." Ned clapped her on the back and she started moving through the crowd of people. She stopped briefly to mingle with old friends and family members, thanking them for coming. When she finally reached her brother and his girlfriend, she coughed in her throat, alerting them of her presence. Ashara stood up readily, a large smile gracing her face. Lyanna was taken aback her beautiful violet eyes, in contrast to her pale skin and dark black hair. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Brandon become nervous. _He is serious,_ Lyanna smiled, greeting Ashara.

"It's so nice to meet you finally! I heard you might not be coming," She nodded towards Bran, and Ashara laughed, playfully glaring at Brandon, who looked elsewhere, deciding he would leave the girls to their own devices and go annoy Ben.

"It's nice to meet you too! Happy birthday!" Ashara came in to give her a warm hug, and Lyanna was shocked on how friendly she was. "Brandon has been making enough excuses on why I haven't met his family yet, so I convinced him it was time already!" She smiled. They continued talking for about ten more minutes, Lyanna asking Ashara where she was from and what does she do, has she met the rest of the family yet. Ashara answered all her questions with ease, both of them getting along easily. Renly came up behind them, surprising Lyanna. While she introduced Renly to her brother's girlfriend, Lyanna snuck a few looks at her ex's youngest brother. He had grown a lot taller since she had last seen him, a few nicks on his neck from where he tried to shave. He had the same blue eyes as Robert, but there was nothing dangerous in them. Renly didn't have the Baratheon temper that his older brothers did, there was no fury to his demeanor, and it was part of the reason why she got on so well with him. He had just turned twenty a couple of months ago. He asked if he could speak to Lyanna alone, and Ashara excused herself, stating that she will try and talk to her later.

"Hi Lyanna."

"Hey Renly, thanks for coming. How is everything back home?" She was concerned about his wellbeing. His parents had died in a car crash about four years ago, and Renly took it the hardest. Not to mention, he had only been sixteen, still trying to figure out his sexuality and coming to terms with it. She stood next to him when he came out to his brothers a year later, protecting him from their backlash. Robert had eventually come to terms with it, although it took a while for Lyanna to convince him. Stannis was another thing. He was the most religious of the brothers, and was convinced that Renly was going to hell. When Renly moved out for good, he had never been so happy in his life.

"It's what you probably suspect. Stannis is getting married."

"What? Someone is willingly marrying him?" Lyanna asked, appalled. Stannis was the most boring man alive, and she couldn't even imagine him dating. He refused to date in college, citing all the sinful activities being conducted.

"Yea, kind of hard to believe." He laughed slightly. Lyanna didn't mean for their relationship to become awkward and messed up when she broke up with Robert, but the pain had been too much and she couldn't bear to look at Renly's face.

"I have a boyfriend now. His name is Loras." He showed her a picture of the two of them on his phone, both of them extremely happy, Renly kissing his boyfriend's cheek.

"I'm really happy for you Renly, honestly."

"Thanks, Lya. I knew you would be." They were silent for a few moments before he started talking again.

"He's a mess without you Lyanna." She shook her head, more vehemently when he tried to explain.

"Renly, I can't go back-"

"I'm not telling you to go back to him, I know you can't. I don't expect that of you, and I still can't forgive him for what he did to you. But he's a mess. I don't know what to do, or who to call. I can't tell Ned. Ned will let him rot-"

"I could let him rot too Renly," Lyanna gritted out, starting to grind on her teeth. He looked at her sadly.

"You would. I know you would. But there is a small part of you that doesn't want him to go down the path he's already on. He is drinking even more these days, starts in the morning and doesn't end till he goes to bed. Its wonder he still has his job."

"Renly…I know you want me to talk to him, but I just _can't._ I'm trying to move on. He is a thirty year old man now, he knows what he is doing to himself. I want to live my life." He sighed, defeated, and then nodded his head. He moved to give her a hug, which she gave hesitantly.

"God, I'm sorry Lya. I didn't mean to do this on your birthday."

"It's alright Renly. I missed you, so much." She murmured into his knitted sweater. She looked up at her friend with small tears in her eyes. "When did you start dressing for the weather?" She laughed, wiping her cheek. He smiled sadly.

"Winter has been here for such a long time, it seems." He hands her a small wrapped box with a silver ribbon. "Happy birthday Lyanna." He moves out of the hallway and heads for the door, taking his jacket off the coat rack and opening the door, dashing down the stairs. She sees him briefly running to his beat up car. She felt pangs of pain when she saw him get in, looking exactly like his brother at that age. She had been in the passenger seat of that car numerous times before Robert passed it down to his youngest brother. Ned came behind her, putting his hand on her shoulder, wondering if his sister was okay.

"Yea…I'm fine." She said, still looking out the window.

She briefly wondered if anyone could make her pain go away.

***

After her conversation with Renly, Lyanna returned to the party held in her honor. She mingled with all the guests, laughing at appropriate places in their stories and graciously accepting any cards or presents they bestowed upon her. She talked more with Ashara, who promised her and Catelyn that they would meet her own best friend Elia soon, and Lyanna tried to pry more information from Brienne about Jaime, but she only shook her head and smiled shyly and said she would call her later. Before they cut the cake, Ned, Brandon, Ben and their father gifted her a beautiful silver charm bracelet in front of everyone. Brandon gave her the horse charm, a reminder of when they were younger and used to ride every weekend. Ned attached a small wolf to her bracelet, knowing her affinity for the animal and Ben gave her a snowflake for her love of winter. Her father kissed her on her forehead and attached a blue rose charm onto her bracelet without a word and excused himself into the back of the room. Lyanna smiled for the rest of the night, handing out cake to everyone and laughing loudly. She and Brandon weren't able to get drunk off of birthday shots, but he promised her to take her out one day for a round of drinks. By midnight, most of the guests had left and the Starks were left to help clean everything up. Brandon, of course, excused himself by saying he had to drop Ashara off, to which Benjen called bullshit. In the end, it only took a half hour to clean everything, and their father excused himself to bed, shooing everyone out playfully. Robb was starting to cry profusely, tired from his night out so Ned and Cat said their goodbyes in the driveway and drove themselves home. Lyanna asked Ben if he would want to stay at her place tonight and then drive himself back to campus in the morning, but he refused, citing he had to start studying for midterms. _I don't miss those days._ Lyanna snickered, heating up her car, waving bye to her little brother. She glanced at the pretty charm bracelet dangling on her wrist, smiling at it, before pulling out of the driveway and onwards to her apartment.

On the way home, Lyanna thought about all the events that happened at the party. She wondered if she was right in turning down Renly. As much as she cared for him, she just couldn't comply with his request to talk to his older brother and get him out of this rut. Robert's actions messed both of them up and left them with a lot of issues to work through. She looked at the small gift Renly had given her at the party, and she wondered what could have been inside. She didn't want to open, just in case it was some painful reminder of Robert, but she also knew she owed it to Renly to be a good friend and not fuss. Not to mention, her feelings for Oberyn were stronger than anything she had felt in a long time. She made sure to keep her eyes on the road, as she didn't want to be caught off guard because she was thinking about her emotions. She continued her commute back home, driving a little slower when the steady stream of snowflakes started. Snow in November wasn't unheard of, but it was always a nice surprise, and Lyanna felt a sudden urge to jump out of her car and go frolicking in the fluffy white snow. It wasn't sticking to the ground, so thankfully there would be no ice until after she arrived back home.

When she did arrive back at her apartment, she spent a moment in the parking lot, looking up at the stars and the snow falling onto her face, barely touching her skin. Gentle like a baby's fingers, she welcomed the gentle drops on her face. Her mother once compared the snowflakes to a star's blessing when Lyanna was still the baby of the family, and that every time snow fell upon your face, it would wipe all your worries and leave you with peace, just like the early morning in winter, when the snow was pure and untouched.

At that moment, Lyanna found her mother was right.

Rushing back inside, she climbed the four flights of steps until she reached her door, panting while she took out her keys. Once inside her home, she immediately shed her clothes, and picked up an old t-shirt to sleep in, dumping all her clothes on her couch, and went into the small kitchenette, turning on the stove and getting the ingredients ready for a soothing cup of tea. She turned on her laptop, waiting for the whirring of the fan to calm down and signed in, looking at her desktop. She felt no sleepiness, so she figured she would just have to stay in bed all day tomorrow. Scrolling through her newsfeed and thanking the people who had written on her facebook wall, she took a sip of the tea and decided she would try to stalk some people. Immediately, she typed in 'Ashara Dayne' into the search box and waited for something to come up. She found her brother's girlfriend with ease, but was disgruntled when her profile was set to private. Her profile picture was cuddling with another gorgeous girl with ocher skin on a couch, both smiling widely at the camera. Lyanna wondered if that was Ashara's best friend who she had spoken so highly of, but then went to the search box again.

She decided to try and find Jaime Lannister, curious about her friend's new 'friend', but he wasn't easy to track down. She went to Tyrion's list of friends and typed in 'Lannister'. _Is there an entire village of Lannisters somewhere?_ She thought when she scrolled through them. _Kevan Lannister, Tywin Lannister, Cersei Lannister, ah Jaime!_ His profile was well hidden, and his profile was also set to private. She huffed, going back to her newsfeed. A brief thought came to her, and she went back to the search box, looking for Oberyn.

His profile came up immediately, and all Lyanna could really see was his profile pictures and some photos he was tagged in. His current profile picture was of him and his girls at a company picnic at the amusement park nearby, all smiling at the camera. He was dressed casually in cargo shirts and a t-shirt with sunglasses, Tyene sitting on his shoulders eating a cone of ice cream. She saw a couple of drops on ice cream dropped on Oberyn's nose and she couldn't stop the growing smile as she looked at the picture. Obara was standing idly at her father's side, smiling shyly while Nymeria stood on the other side of him, making a silly face at the camera. Lyanna looked at the few comments on the picture.

_Arthur Dayne: Got something on your nose buddy._

_Mellario Norvos Martell: The girls get cuter by the day! Arianne wants them to spend the night next Saturday._

_Oberyn Martell: Mellario, the girls want to go to the zoo that day, Arianne can come with us if she wants, and then I can drop the girls at your house for the night. Arthur…I'll never look at ice cream the same._

She briefly looked at his other pictures, mostly him and his daughters and she could feel her affections for him growing stronger every time she looked at him. She closed out of his profile, staring at her computer screen and holding onto her cup of tea tightly with both hands. She looked at her phone, wondering if she got any messages from him, but only saw texts from Ned asking if she got home okay. She rolled her eyes at her brother and texted him back, putting her phone down. She wondered if she should be the first to text Oberyn, and struggled with the idea. She didn't want to come off as desperate, but she didn't want to be too frosty either in case he was planning on _her_ texting first. She groaned, getting up and putting her cup in the sink, not wanting the little bit of tea left over, and took her phone and laptop to her bed.

Once snuggled inside her downy comforter, she plugged in her laptop to keep from dying and looked out the window right next to her, staring at the now flurry of snowflakes falling. She typed in Netflix in the address bar, because what better way to fall asleep then watching a show. She stared at her phone again, willing it to text her. It was now two in the morning, and she wondered if he was sleeping, or putting his girls back to bed after waking him up. In a moment of spontaneity, she opened her contacts and pressed his name, opening a new message.

_Should I start Orphan Black or Hannibal? –Lya_

She threw her phone behind her, not sure if she should just go to bed and wait to see if he responds back then and started to regret her decision immediately. She put her face in her hands, her laptop falling off her stomach and lying next to her in an angle. "What am I doing?" She wondered out loud.

Suddenly, her phone buzzed alight with a new message and she froze. It buzzed again when she didn't move to answer. She hesitantly reached for it.

_Orphan Black. Its better, and I think you might like shows that have 'girl power'. –Oberyn_

_Do you watch The Walking Dead? I'm not okay with the third season… -Oberyn_

She laughed as he texted again, and waited a few seconds before texting him back.

_If Glenn dies, I'm not watching the rest of this show. -Oberyn_

_The fourth season gets worse. It's all over the place. -Lya_

_So what you're saying is I should stop now. –Oberyn_

_No you should keep going. Are you watching it right now? –Lya_

_I can't watch it in front of the girls, they'll get too scared. They saw the last few minutes of the very first episode and it took three pixar movies to calm them down. –Oberyn_

Lyanna cackled loudly at his latest text and tried to hide her giggles. They spent the next half hour texting about different TV shows and Oberyn's sudden rage at characters stupid decisions in _The Walking Dead_. He just texted her a very heartfelt rant on why T-Dogg didn't deserve to die when suddenly Lyanna felt very tired at the day's events and her eyelids felt bogged down. She closed her computer and set it on the floor, wondering if she should text Oberyn goodnight or leave him wondering if she had fallen asleep. She didn't really care at that point though.

_I'm gonna crash now. Talk to you in the morning? –Lya_

Setting her phone on her bedside stand, she snuggled into her bed, pulling her comforter all the way up to her neck and falling asleep almost instantly. In the dreamy haze as she was near deep sleep, she saw Oberyn's face smirking at her, and fell into a sleeping coma.

On her stand, her phone buzzed with only one text.

_Goodnight Lyanna. Sweet dreams._

***

Lyanna didn't wake up until twelve in the afternoon on Sunday, so she didn't bother eating anything, electing to surf the internet for a couple of hours before getting up and making a bowl of cereal. She brushed her teeth in her small bathroom, getting rid of her dragon breath, and staring at herself in the mirror. Walking into the kitchen after she was done, she grabbed a glass of juice and the box of strawberries she regretted buying a couple of days ago. Chopping up the rather bitter strawberries and pouring them into her bowl along with her favorite cereal, she went back to bed and chewed slowly, watching a few youtube videos before trying to get some actual work done. Her phone started buzzing with the tone of a phone call and she picked it up without checking who it was, figuring it must be her brother or dad.

"Hello?"

"Afternoon, Lyanna. I assumed you slept well?" She recognized Oberyn's voice from the start. Surprised that he was calling her, she wondered if he just wanted to chat on the phone or if he wanted something else.

"I slept very well. And what about you? Up too late watching TV?" She teased, a laugh caught in her throat. She kneeled on her bed then, looking out the window, watching the snow still falling onto a perfectly white wonderland. The snow had been untouched completely in the parking lot, regardless of the fact that many of her neighbors went to church on Sunday mornings. Maybe the snow had been falling since then too, and just covered their tracks. She felt a little cold then, and moved off the bed to her hamper, pulling on a pair of pajamas.

"No, I decided I would just watch it later. I wasn't too impressed with the last episode I finished. I thought I would try to finish the season today, but the girls wanted to watch a movie before we left."

"Are you going on a trip?" She furrowed her eyebrows.

"No, no, sorry, I should have clarified. They're going over to my brother's house to play with their cousins. We wanted our kids to be as close as we were when we were their age." She could sense that he was smiling over the phone, and the fact that he and his brother wanted their children to be tight knit made her smile too. She and her brothers had made a similar promise to one another a long time ago, back when they all lived at Winterfell House.

"That sounds nice," She said sincerely. "Are you planning on hanging out with your brother?" She asked, sitting back down in her bed, covering herself with her grey comforter. She closed her computer since she didn't want to be distracted while she talked to Oberyn, placing in on her floor. She sub consciously moved her bowl and glass of juice farther back onto her night stand, paranoid she would knock it over and ruin her computer.

"God no," He chuckled. "We take turns every weekend so we can get a little alone time. Sometimes I look after all the kids, sometimes it's my sister, and sometimes it's my brother."

"How many kids do they have?"

"Both my brother and sister have two kids. All together they're an exhausting bunch." He groaned slightly. Lyanna snickered.

"At least you don't have them this week."

"Actually, that's why I'm calling you. I have to look after the kids next weekend, so can we reschedule for that cup of coffee?" Lyanna's heart sunk. She had actually been looking towards going out with Oberyn outside of her classroom, and she couldn't help but feel disappointed. She tried not to show it her voice, but she wasn't sure if it came across that way.

"Sure…when are you available?" She asked.

"Well…I was hoping maybe we could meet up today? Maybe around four?" She hesitated a minute before answering.

"T-that works. Yea I'm good with that. Anywhere you were thinking of?"

"I can text you the address in a little bit. So it's a date?" Somehow, Lyanna just _knew_ he was smirking as he asked her over the phone, so she smirked also, looking out the window. _Cocky bastard._

"It's a date."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I hope this chapter is up to par! I had a really long week of work last week, and I felt like I just couldn't write as well, so I hope it lives up to your standards.
> 
> Lyanna's TV addiction finally get's it's back story. I told you it had a purpose! I know I keep pushing off what Robert did, but next chapter you will finally find out! Plus a confrontation between the two!
> 
> Please review! It is so appreciated!

_You are unbearable memories when I sleep_

_I've tried my best to destroy you_

_But the waves keep overflowing me_

_Washing me out till I'm empty_

_-Luna by Fear of Men_

***

 _Where the hell do I park?_ Lyanna wondered while she looked for a place to park her car around the streets. The café she was meeting Oberyn in just a few minutes was easy enough to find, the only problem was finding a parking space that wouldn't end with her getting into an accident or a parking violation. She gritted her teeth as some jerk cut her off for one of the only open spaces on the street and kept moving forward. She would have to park a little further away in order to park her car safely. Finally, when she found a spot she parked as close as she could to the curb, trying to avoid the mushy slush gathering already on the street. She heard her phone buzzing in her purse and she cursed as she reached for it on the passenger seat, grimacing at the gross soda stain and rifling through her bag, fishing out her phone and reading the text.

_I'm here. I already took the liberty of ordering you something. How much sugar is good? –Oberyn_

Lyanna struggled to fight the smile off her face and she responded as quickly as she could, struggling with her gloves on. She finally gave up and removed one, texting faster.

_You didn't have to do that! And lots please, with cream. –Lyanna_

She threw her phone in her purse and put her glove back on, bracing herself for the cold blast of wind. While she loved the snow and winter, Lyanna hated cold wind. It always made her teeth chatter and she didn't like trying to fight against a nasty cold front. Fighting with the crappy lock on her door, she finally swung open the door and was hit with a mild chill. Pleasantly surprised, she carefully maneuvered her way out, being mindful that of some of the slippery spots, and made her way down the street to the café tucked into the corner of the adjoining buildings. "It was called Roh's I think," Lyanna muttered to herself, looking around for the sign. With a small degree of success, she found the café and entered, welcoming the warmth and taking off her gloves. She looked around for Oberyn, who was standing up at a small table in the very back, waving awkwardly. She smiled and headed over to him, stepping over various laptop cords from overworked college students cramming for their upcoming finals and a large service dog sitting by his owner dutifully. Her heart lifted at the sight of one of her favorite animals but kept her eyes on Oberyn, trying not to seem like such a weirdo. When she reached him, he chuckled and handed her a steaming cup of coffee, motioning for her to sit down across from him. While she settled down into her seat and took off her coat, she asked him what was so funny.

"I take it you like dogs?" He smirked.

"Maybe. How could you tell?"

"You looked much more excited to see that dog instead of me," He grinned at her and Lyanna blushed at his words, pushing back her hair trying to seem nonchalant. She didn't think it worked because he snickered and took a sip of his coffee, staring at her with his unnerving eyes. Her eyes flickered down to his thin pink lips forming around the mug, steam blowing into his face. She felt a little uneasy as she stared back at him, trying to form an answer.

"I just really like dogs," She muttered, staring into her cup. He chuckled and she smiled, taking a sip of the coffee, making a face at the bitterness and tried to hide it from Oberyn. He furrowed his eyebrows.

"No good? I can get you another."

"No, no it's fine. It just needs some sugar," She said, grabbing the sugar container on the right side of her, taking liberty with the large amount of sugar she poured in. Her sweet tooth had gotten her into trouble many times, mostly with her dentist, and her father who had to foot the bill when she was younger, but Lyanna would never stop her love of anything sugary and sweet. Oberyn widened his eyes as she mixed in everything and took a sip, sighing happily with her improved coffee.

"Good lord woman. Is that even healthy?"

"Probably not, but my dentist gives me discounts now, so I suppose it doesn't matter." She jokes and suppresses a smile when she sees that he laughs.

"How is Tyene doing? Still sick?" She asks, remembering that the sweet girl had fallen ill suddenly. Oberyn pushed his hair back, setting his coffee and shaking his head.

"She's doing better, but now Obara is sick, and Nymeria is trying her hardest to get sick too so she doesn't have to go to school." He huffed. "My sister laughed when she dropped her kids off at our brother's house, said it was exactly what I get for trying to do the same thing when we younger," He smiles at her now, watching the smile on her face grow too. He admired the small freckles dotting across Lyanna's pale cheeks and nose and flickered down to her fuller lips, a darker pink then what they were usually.

"Tyene said she was sorry she missed class on Friday by the way, she said you were going to start teaching some Spanish?" He asked, changing the topic. Her eyes brightened when he switched to talking about her class, and took a sip of his coffee, wincing at the sudden bitterness. He took a little sugar from the container and poured a small amount, trying to sweeten his drink. He briefly wondered if he was doing putting more sugar into his normally strong cup was because he wanted to impress the woman in front of him. The only sweet things he needed in his life were his three girls, but he wanted to add Lyanna in too. He watched her as she started talking about her lesson plans for the next couple of weeks, as a new student had immigrated with her parents and Lyanna thought it would be a good idea for her students to learn some of the basics, so they could try and help their new classmate assimilate better. He noticed she talked mostly with her hands, animatedly describing some techniques that were supposed to help young children learn better but he wasn't listening to well. He nodded in all the right spots and chuckled when she made a joke, but Oberyn was openly staring at her face, starting from her expressive dark brown eyebrows and the way her grey eyes widened when she explained something, or how they narrowed at his mocking answers, quickly forgiving him. When she turned the subject towards something else, he was taken off guard.

"So, what do you do exactly?" Telling by the glint in her eyes, she seemed to already know what he did for a living but he forgave it. She wasn't the only one to stalk him. He had creeped on her facebook account last night, finding her easily and going through the few pictures and posts that had been available to the public. He had looked at her profile picture for a few minutes, shocked at the red headed baby boy in her lap that she looked at so lovingly. He had originally thought she had a baby but didn't want to tell him. He didn't understand that logic, because he had three daughters himself, so why should she hide her child instead of coming up front? He wouldn't have cared either way. That was until he actually clicked on the picture and found that it was her beloved nephew instead of her son. He certainly felt stupid at that moment.

"I run a water filtration company with my brother. He does all the business, and you are looking at the scientist," He smirked, leaning back into the booth.

"How'd you get started in that?"

He shrugged. "Our mother used to volunteer in an area that would never have a clean water supply thanks to some chemical factories. Doran and I just felt obligated to help, so we decided to combine our skills." Lyanna smiled. She couldn't but feel like there was more to the story than he was letting on, or maybe he was trying to be humble and not make a big deal out of it.

"As long as you like it, right?" He nodded.

"How did you get into teaching?" He asked. She launched into her somewhat clichéd story on how she shadowed a teacher and ended up loving the field. He chuckled at the appropriate places and looked at her softly.

"I'll admit I would have never taken you to be a teacher. You seem too much of a free spirit to be bogged down by lesson plans," He chuckled, taking a long sip of his now cooler coffee.

"You don't seem like a scientist." Lyanna retorted. He laughed.

"No, I don't. I worked for a mercenary company when Obara was a baby, and then we transitioned into our company. I've held a lot of odd jobs."

"This is the only job I've actually ever liked. I get to be a little kid again, well, kind of." She laughs. "I was never a frilly little girl, I spent most of my time outside, hurting myself or getting dirty. My parents blamed it on my oldest brother, he was my idol growing up." He chuckles before starting his own story.

"I was the only wild child out of my siblings. My brother was too serious and my sister was too sweet to go against our parents. So, naturally, the role fell upon me." He said with a flourish of his hands, making Lyanna laugh and roll her eyes, taking a sip.

"You don't seem so bad." She replied. He raised an eyebrow at her and settled back onto the table, resting his chin on one arm.

"No?" He stared at her with his snake like eyes, making a blush start to slightly appear in her cheeks. Lyanna gathered her wits and straightened her posture before replying.

"No."

Oberyn smirked at her response, and she gave him a small smile in return, fidgeting with the bracelet on her wrist. The rest of their coffee date went well, talking about their childhoods and their siblings. Many of the other customers eyes flickered over to the two when they laughed loudly, noting what a handsome couple they made, with his laugh lines stemming out from his eyes and her bright young smile. Lyanna paid no mind towards the strangers, and only concentrated on the man in front of her, genuinely interested in what he had to say. They sat for another two hours, talking about anything and everything when Lyanna remembered that she had to get ready for school in the morning, but when she told Oberyn this, neither of them made a move to get up. They sat in comfortable silence for another five minutes, looking around the café, but dodging each other's eyes when confronted with each other.

"What time do you have to pick up your girls?" She asked softly. He looked at his watch and groaned.

"In a half hour, which means I should probably leave now." He stands up, stretching his arms before slipping them into his coat. Lyanna yawns slightly, and puts on her coat with some difficulty, struggling to get one of her arms in the sleeve. "Here, I'll help you," He offers, taking her jacket and straightening it, holding the sleeve so she could stretch her arm into it. Lyanna turned around and put her arm in, smiling slightly at the sweet gesture while Oberyn stood behind her. When they were both bundled in their winter wear, they moved towards the door and left the café, waving goodbye to the servers wiping down the counter and moving down the sidewalk slowly where Lyanna parked her car.

"Did you park on this street?" She asked him as she maneuvered around a slush pile. His hand hovered over the small of her back as she moved around in the snow, making sure he would catch her in case she would fall.

"No, I was on the corner of the other side of the building." He said as they reached her car.

"You didn't have to walk me!"

"It was no problem."

"I'm not some damsel, Oberyn." She said, looking up at him. He narrowed his eyes at her, smirking. All of a sudden, he dangled her purse in front of her face, watching her face contort into confusion. "How did you…"

"Really?" He chuckled lowly. He put her purse into her hand, and took the other hand and kissed it gently. Lyanna was still shocked that he managed to sneak her purse away from her just to make a point, and blushed at his gentle lips ghosting over the skin of her hands.

"I'll see you soon Lyanna," He breathed, stepping back from the curb and turning away, digging his hands into his pockets as Lyanna stared at him as he left. What an enigma, Lyanna thought, fishing out her keys when a small folded up note dropped from her purse onto the dirty snow right by her tire. She bent down to pick it up, thinking it was some left over receipt, but when she opened up, it was a note written down in a familiar scrawl.

_Thanks for keeping me company today, I hope you'll allow me to take you to dinner one evening._

"Holy shit," Lyanna breathed, clutching the paper tightly as she read it over and over again. A strong gust of wind hit her, almost blowing away the note but she grabbed onto it tighter, hurriedly putting her keys in and opening her door, climbing into the anti-wind chamber she called her car. Starting up the engine, she looked at the note again, looking for some hidden meaning, and smiled widely, looking at the ceiling of her car. Lyanna couldn't believe her luck, and as she started to move on home after a couple of minutes, she couldn't keep the wide smile off of her face.

***

_Brandon was speeding down the streets in Stormland Heights, almost knocking over a few trash cans on the curb as he turned sharply and followed his murderous brother in another car. Her father Rickard was tense in the passenger seat, keeping his phone out so he could try to call Ned, and Lyanna felt like she would vomit in the back, due to the situation and her brother's insane driving._

_When she arrived at her father's house in tears just an hour ago where her family was waiting for her, they were all shocked to find her in tears and sobbing in her car. Ned had originally thought she was in pain and had to be taken to the hospital the way she holding her stomach so tightly and carried her inside, distressed at his sister's bitter wailing. After a cup of water being forced down her throat by Catelyn, Lyanna finally told her family what had transpired in her breakup._

_Ned had been dangerously quiet while Lyanna hiccupped her story, and she could still see Catelyn trying to get him to sit down, drink some water, to deal with it in the morning. Newly married, Ned had thought that Lyanna would be the next to get married, and to his best friend. He caught sight of a dark bruise on her wrist that Lyanna was trying to hide underneath her long sleeved shirt. He took her wrist, looking her in the eyes and asking if he had done this during their fight. Lyanna shook her head yes, scared of what her quiet brother would do. Suddenly, a rage overtook him, and he started yelling, grabbing his keys and smashing a vase by the door as he stormed out, stating that he would kill the bastard for doing this to his sister. Catelyn screamed, running out into the dark night and telling her husband to come back in, and now she was riding in a car at one in the morning, wondering if she would witness her brother murder someone._

_They got to his house too late, and rushed out of the car while Ned was pushing him to the ground, shouting loudly on how he could have betrayed everyone so grievously. 'SHE LOVED YOU. I LOVED YOU. WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE FAMILY, AND YOU DID THIS TO HER,' Ned screamed, punching him everywhere he could. Lyanna could see the amount of blood her brother had leeched from him, nearly retching at the sight of his twisted, broken nose. Brandon and their father were trying their hardest to pull Ned off, but he was too strong, going back for more and more punches, brutally hitting him in the jaw. Lyanna heard a nasty snap and a howl of pain, and she fell to her knees, scraping them with the grass and twigs, crying for her brother to stop this, to let him go so they could go home. She just wanted to go home._

_There was blood everywhere on the concrete, and her father was pacing back and forth, trying to get an ambulance. Ned tried to take a fatal blow by smashing his skull back on the driveway, but Brandon finally pulled all his strength together and pulled his brother off of him, dragging him kicking and screaming to the curb. The neighbors surrounding came out to see the ruckus, but stayed in their respective driveways, not wanting to interfere. Lyanna finally saw his black and blue face, the one who put her through so much pain and betrayed her so badly._

_But it wasn't Robert who was breathing hard on the ground, barely whispering 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry Lya, I'm sorry,"_

_It was Oberyn._

Lyanna woke up screaming, launching herself into a sitting position and clutching her pillow to her chest tightly, gasping for air as tears streamed down her face. The recurring nightmare that had haunted her ever since that night had started to surface again, just when she thought it was starting to go away for good. But it was the first time someone else had been featured in the dream, and she nearly vomited from the fact that it had been Oberyn's face instead of Robert's. She ripped her covers off of her and stumbled towards her bathroom, noting that it was four in the morning as she passed her night stand, and switched on the light, making for the toilet and sunk to her knees. She retched with nothing coming up, crying at the turmoil clawing at her chest. She tried using the breathing tactics her therapist had taught her to calm down years ago, and after ten minutes of sitting in front of her toilet and breathing deeply, Lyanna no longer felt nauseous. She leaned her clammy head on the seat and welcomed the cold porcelain on her cheek.

 _Everything was going so well,_ she thought, wiping her tears with a shaking hand, trying to sit up properly. Her coffee date with Oberyn on Sunday had been a success, and he later promised he would take her out to a proper dinner sometime soon, and she graciously accepted his offer. They had greeted each with enthusiasm over the next couple of days at school, and only said goodbye to each other when Tyene, who was still recovering from her sudden bout of the common cold, became cranky at her father. Lyanna wondered why now, just a few days after the date, had she dreamt this nightmare. Was it a sign? That things would not work out this time, and only end in heartbreak and misery once again? She pushed herself off of her bathroom floor, wanting to sit in bed for a little while. Climbing back in and throwing a sweatshirt on, she checked her phone for the time and decided it wasn't worth going back to bed as she would need to be up soon anyways. She noticed that Oberyn had texted her a couple of hours ago, but she couldn't open it at the moment. She laid in her suddenly stiff bed, looking out at the window. The snow she saw fall last Saturday evening was no longer pure, but mostly slush and dirty, pushed away from the parking lot in a hurry, and left in piles. She decided to open the text, too curious to see what he had written.

_I'll admit you're on my mind more than just sometimes._

***

Lyanna was still thinking about the text while her students were at lunch. She elected to stay in her room than monitor her beloved students in the cafeteria, citing she was feeling pretty under the weather that day. She sat down staring at her phone, not knowing what to say or what to respond with. The usual smartass in her would come up with something witty on the spot, but after her nightmare, she couldn't even say hi to Oberyn. She didn't touch any of her poorly made lunch yet, and she didn't register her stomach growling, staring at a wall on the right side of her classroom. She heard a knock on the door, but didn't process it, only coming out of her reverie when someone started speaking.

"Has it finally occurred to you that you're wasting your life teaching?" A familiar voice asks. Lyanna looks to see Tyrion Lannister grinning at her, sitting in one of her student's desks, his short stubby legs barely touching the ground. His mismatched green and black eyes stared at her appraisingly, and his dirty blond hair fell on his forehead as waves. His nose widened as he grinned at her, swinging his badge around his finger. It was so odd to think he was her age, considering he looked so much older. But she refused to judge him for something he couldn't control, she didn't want to be those teachers who made fun of him behind his back and then be nice to his face. "I'd recommend you find a nice, rich husband who'll tolerate your terrible TV theories." Lyanna rolls her eyes, and tucks her phone into the top drawer of her desk.

"Haven't talked you in a while either, Lannister. You still owe me thirty bucks for that bet we made." He rolls his eyes and reaches into his pocket, pulling out her desired money and waving it in his hand. He gets up and moves to her desk, about to hand her the money when he reaches back all of a sudden, still waving the money in his hand.

"Not just yet, Stark. I require some information beforehand." She groans and leans back in her chair, raising an eyebrow at him. "Who's the sexy bastard you always stay behind for nowadays?" He teased, laughing as she glared at him, turning red at his question. She had hoped she was more conspicuous than that, the only person at school who knew about Oberyn was Maege, and she wasn't sure if Tyene understood the chemistry between her father and her teacher. Of course, Obara and Nymeria knew that there was something between the two, but Oberyn had told her that he made them promise not to tell anyone as of yet. Tyrion laughs again at her perplexed face.

"You are anything but subtle. Oberyn Martell? He seems kind of sophisticated for you, no? Or is this your way of trying to raise money for the PTA?" Lyanna huffed at his teasing.

"I'm not in the mood Tyrion," She muttered, taking a chunk out of her sandwich and chewing angrily. Tyrion seemed to finally notice that she wasn't up to joke around today and became serious.

"Are you okay Lyanna?" She shook her head.

"Not really. No."

He looked even more serious now, pulling up a chair over to her desk and sitting down in it, folding his arms and crossing his fingers together, staring at her, trying to find something in her eyes.

"You haven't been taking your medication, have you?" He asked finally, and she sighed.

"I was getting better…it was going away. I started feeling genuinely happy again, in such a long time. I thought I would only take it on bad days. I woke up this morning and….everything just came down again." She says quietly.

"You can't crash down after one bad day. You're letting the depression win." She nodded mutely, not knowing what to say. "You can't just watch TV all your life Lyanna and make references and pretend you're doing fine. You have to actively work at." Tyrion says, putting his money down on her desk, sliding it to her. "You know I've had depression for years?" She raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really? Tyrion Lannister, the smart ass?"

"You have quite the wit too, so don't talk," He says, smirking. "My dad hated that I was a dwarf, 'ruined the family name' he said," He mocks. "He was just pissed his sperm failed. And my sister, she blamed me for our mom's death. I still kind of blame myself for that." He says quietly then, and Lyanna doesn't know what to say.

"How did you deal with it?" Lyanna asked, her voice raspy.

"The same way you do now, sat inside all day and watched trash television, wallow in my misery but pretend to be hot shit, and after my older brother left home I'd go to the library almost every day. That's how I'm so smart," He teased, pointing a short finger at his large forehead, smirking. She smiled too then, and started to take another bite of her sandwich. "But I decided one day I didn't want to sit around anymore. Thought I'd take some action," He reaches for the other half of her sandwich and she gives it to him willingly so he doesn't have to reach over her entire desk. He takes a bite and nods at her. "Took a few risks, decided I wanted to be a teacher to help some kids too. And now I'm a happy man whore." He chuckles. Lyanna laughs and shakes her head, standing up when she realized the time. She had to go get her kids from lunch and escort them to the playground outside. Tyrion groaned when he realized what was happening, taking a tissue and wrapping the other half of Lyanna's sandwich in there, holding on to it tightly. "I hate lunch duty." He mutters and stalks out of her room, Lyanna following closely behind. He stares up at her from his short height, appraising her as she locked her door.

"Was it about your mom? Or Robert?" She freezes, wondering how her little friend could know about the dream that caused all of this.

"It was…a mix of Robert and someone else." She says. Lyanna knows that Tyrion knows that she was referring to Oberyn, he was too smart to not be able to figure it out, but a part of her kept it quiet anyways. He nods, turning away from her. He looks back and smirks.

"Take your meds crazy." He walks away towards his room, presumably to get his own lunch and Lyanna rolls her eyes. She started to walk towards the cafeteria, hoping to get her kids out before the chaos of the bell ringing. She knew Tyrion was right, and that she should have been taking her anti-depressants more consistently, but she had been trying to ween herself off. She didn't want to be completely dependent on them, and only used them when she had a bad day. But her day started bad, and in her haze from her nightmare she forgot to take them, and she'd been daydreaming about her dream all day. Her depression didn't hinder her usually, it was just there in the back of her mind nowadays, slowly waiting to resurface and bury her under its blackness. It had started after her mother died in an accident, and Lyanna felt so guilty about not taking the wheel from her as she slid into the car in front that she fell into a depressed hole and couldn't claw herself back out. No one blamed her, she was only fourteen when their mom died, and her brothers tried to make her see reason behind that. There was nothing she could have done. It was only when she started to not eat her meals that her father became truly concerned and took her to some one-on-one therapy sessions to see what was going on. Her family had done everything in their power to help her after she was diagnosed with depression. It would come in waves, just like it would now. Her breakup with Robert was probably her lowest point, the depression hitting her full force, lying in bed and just staring at her wall, ignoring Ned and Brandon when they came over to check on her, which was every day at that point. She was just going through the motions, going to school and then coming back, staring at nothing. At some point, Brandon let her use his Netflix account to just try and get her to feel some emotion, to actually do something other than waste away, and he was extremely relieved to find out that it had worked. It may have jumpstarted an addiction, but it had worked. Her brothers would be glad to talk to her about her favorite shows and theories, if it brought her back to life again.

"Ms. Stark! Ms. Stark! Look what I made!" One of her students came up to her, tugging on her hand excitedly. Lyanna didn't even realize she was in the cafeteria, lost in her thoughts until someone brought her out. She felt her phone ringing in her back pocket, and she wondered who could be calling at this moment. The girl shared her crayon picture with her, a messy drawing of all her friends and Ms. Stark in the corner, smiling and laughing with a pile of books next to her. She noticed the girl had put herself and a boy she sits with all the time on the other side of the drawing, little pink and red hearts that were colored outside of the lines surrounding them. Lyanna smiled widely and bent down to the little girl.

"This is very nice Lily. Is this for me?" She asks sweetly, already knowing the answer.

"No…it's for Petyr." She giggles shyly. Lyanna smiles. "Do you think he'll like it?"

"I think he'll love it." Lily runs off then, just as the lunch bell rang. Her students crowded around her, already knowing the routine. Maege came up behind her as she dropped off her second graders for lunch, and Lyanna briefly saw Nymeria poke Tyene as she passed her and laughed when Tyene couldn't see who had done it. Lyanna laughed into her hand at the cute little girl when she figured out it was her older sister, and pouted as she couldn't go over to the line and retaliate. Oberyn had said that Nymeria and Tyene fought the most, but always made up. He told her a story on Monday afternoon while Tyene was using the restroom after school that Nymeria had punched her classmate for saying Tyene was ugly. He rubbed the back of his neck when he explained it to her while she snickered in her chair, perplexed on what he was going to do with his rowdy daughters.

"God I'm so glad it's an early release day," Maege mutters behind her. Lyanna turns to her, surprised.

"That's today?" Maege gives her a pointed look.

"What's up with you lately? Mr. Martell keeping you up too late?" She snickers, wiggling her eyebrows, and Lyanna hits her arm, glaring at her.

"There are kids around! And not like that."

"But he does keep you up late?" She smirks at Lyanna. Lyanna huffs and calls for her kids to follow her. She spoke in hushed whispers to her friend as her students followed her out to the playground.

"You know that dream I was having for a while?" She murmured, and Maege became serious.

"The one about that night?"

"Yea. But it wasn't with Robert. It was Oberyn." Maege grimaces and turns forward.

The kids all ran out the playground when they opened the doors, pushing past the two teachers, screaming for fun. Lyanna shouted for them to be careful when running, and rolled her eyes when none of them listened to her. She and Maege went to sit in the bench near the doors and sat down, Lyanna pulling out her phone when it started vibrating again. "Who the hell keeps calling me?" She mutters, turning it on. She was shocked to see that it was Renly who had been calling her. Maege looked over her shoulder at her phone.

"Renly? Robert's little brother? What does he want?" Lyanna shrugged, hoping it wasn't something serious, but just chalking it up to his carelessness.

"He's probably butt dialing me and doesn't even know it." She laughed, putting her phone back and disconnecting the call.

"Well let's go back. How did you start having that dream again? Is that why you've looked so down today?" Her friend pushed.

"I don't know. Ned was beating up Oberyn instead of Robert, and it freaked me out. Do you think it could mean something?" She asked, worried. Maege shook her head.

"No, it's probably nothing. Maybe you're just worried about getting hurt again."

"I guess…"

"You really like him Lya, don't deny it. Remember Domeric?" Lyanna grimaced at the thought of him. "You never liked him as much as you like Oberyn."

"You're forgetting that Domeric was a complete ass too," Lyanna added. She was glad that mess only took a couple of weeks of her time.

"Still. I think you should stay with it, see where it goes."

"But what if something goes wrong?" Lyanna sighed. "Not only would our relationship be done, but it might interfere with Tyene's schooling."

"It sounds like a risk you both want to take though. And it's not illegal for you to date a single parent. Stop making excuses." Lyanna gave her a look and Maege groaned. "I'm not trying to undermine your emotions Lya, but you can only get better if you actively try. How long will you hole yourself up watching movies?" _I don't watch that much television…_ Lyanna glowered, but she knew her friends were right. It wasn't fair to Oberyn, and it certainly wasn't fair to herself either if she kept trying to push people away and ending up miserable.

"Ms. Stark?" A small voice next to her appeared. Lyanna and Maege turned towards the side to see Tyene clutching her stomach, her face contorted in pain.

"Tyene what's wrong?" She said, scooting over towards her.

"My tummy hurts…" The girl said sadly, looking at her. Her face was paler then usual and she wondered if the girl was getting sick all over again. The stomach bug was rumored to getting started for the winter season and they already had a couple of cases within the school. Lyanna was confronted with her sad puppy eyes and fought the urge to take the little girl in her arms and rock her.

"Do you have to use the restroom sweetie? It might make you feel better." Lyanna felt Tyene's forehead and noticed it was much warmer than it should be. She stood up, stretching out her hand for Tyene to take. Tyene only nodded her head and took her teacher's hand, looking down at the ground and moaning slightly. Lyanna hurried her back to her classroom, and removed Tyene's kitten soft orange coat, placing it on her desk, and ushered her student into the tiny restroom.

"Sit on the toilet Tyene, and tell me if something happens okay?" Tyene replied 'okay' in a small voice, and Lyanna closed the door, wondering what to do. She hoped it was only her bowel movements getting messed up and nothing more serious, but she suspected there might be a fever too. Hopefully she caught it early enough that Tyene could take some medicine at home tonight and feel better soon. Lyanna fished out her phone from her pocket and pulled up her contacts, scrolling down to Tyene's father and pressing call. He picked up on the third ring, and Lyanna could hear faints of music playing and some traffic.

"Ms. Stark _please_ , school isn't even out until ten minutes and you insist on harassing me." He answered light heartedly, and she could imagine his smirk while driving. She tried to suppress the grin on her face, but she had to inform him of his daughter. She didn't want to get lost in her thoughts however.

"Oberyn. I think Tyene might be sick again."

"What happened?" She heard his voice go serious and deep.

"She said her tummy was hurting and she felt a little feverish, so I stuck her in the restroom to see if she had to go. It might be a stomach bug, I'm not sure."

"Okay, I'm almost there. When does school let out?"

"In ten more minutes. I don't think she's serious enough to go to the nurse, but if you want her checked out I could make a call and ask her to stay back for you." Lyanna offered.

"No, that's fine. Thanks for everything Lyanna, I really owe you. I'll be there in about two minutes."

"Okay I'll see you then." She hung up the phone then and tried to listen if Tyene was making any sounds in the restroom. She leaned her face to the door, trying to listen and wondering if the girl was okay in there by herself.

"Tyene?" She knocked gently. "Tyene, are you okay in there? Do you need any help?" She said through the door. She heard a small muffled 'no' and sighed. "Okay, your dad is almost here, so you'll get to go home soon!" She said enthusiastically, trying to cheer her up. She got off the door and went to her chair, plopping down heavily and massaging her temples. _Thank God for early release,_ she thought. She didn't know if she would be able to handle anything else today. A couple of more minutes passed when she heard the flush in the bathroom and Tyene walked out, a little less pale, but still sickly looking. She gave a small smile to Lyanna and came over to her, hugging her loosely. Lyanna leaned into the hug more, squeezing the girl and rubbing her back.

"Are you feeling better?" Lyanna asked her. Tyene looked up and smiled slightly before sighing and snuggling her head back into Lyanna's neck. Lyanna felt a burst of emotion at that point, with all the day's events catching up to her and her lack of sleep, she felt exhausted and relieved at the same time.

"How's my girl?" Lyanna and Tyene looked up towards the doorway, where Oberyn leaned against, the winter sun streaming in and illuminating his face, one half shrouded in pure unfiltered light, and Lyanna could see the flickers of dust floating in front of his face. For the first time since she met him, Lyanna felt intimidated by the man who was slowly starting to occupy space in all her thoughts. As Tyene waddled to her father, Lyanna kept trying to envision his face, black and blue, bloodied from her brother's beating, but she couldn't see it. His face would never belong there in that position. He looks at her once again once Tyene is settled into his arms, grabbing his daughter's coat from her desk. He walked like a predator, but his demeanor felt like he was stumbling on glass in front of her.

"Thanks Ms. Stark," Tyene said, gaining a little color in her cheeks again. Lyanna smiled brightly at her.

"Of course Tyene!" Oberyn smiled gently at her, and bent down to put Tyene on the ground.

"Why don't you get your stuff, and then we can go get your sisters?" He murmured and she shook her head in agreement, the little blonde curls bouncing as he wrangled her hat on her head, giggling. Oberyn stood up and stared at her, both of them not saying a word. The bell rang, and streams of kids littered the hallway. One by one, her students made their way back from recess and went to get their things from their cubbies, giggling with their friends. Lyanna almost smacked her forehead about forgetting her students, but she saw Maege smirk and walk away quickly from the doorway, letting her know that she escorted her kids back inside. She breathed a sigh of relief, and Oberyn caught her attention once again.

"Do you think we're going too fast Lyanna?" He asked. Lyanna widened her eyes in shock.

"No! I mean, I think…we're going the right pace…for whatever this is." She said, because she still didn't know what this was. She didn't know if it was just flirting or becoming serious.

It felt serious every time she looked him in the eye.

"I mean, I'm only asking because you didn't answer my text last night, and you seemed kind of short on the phone earlier, and I don't want to assume things so I thought I'd ask you." He said as the last kid besides Tyene left the room. Tyene watched her father and her teacher closely, wondering what they meant if it was serious. She hoped they weren't talking about her tummy aches. She frowned slightly and sat in her desk, waiting for them to be done talking so she could ask Nymeria if she was dying because of her tummy.

"No, no…it was none of that. I've just been…having a really bad day." Lyanna's phone started to buzz again on her desk, vibrating wildly against her gradebook. She flickered down to see whom it was and saw that it was Renly again. _I don't think he's butt dialing me anymore,_ she frowned.

"So…you weren't freaked out by my text then?"

"Well…it scared me a little to be honest." Renly was still calling her phone, and she wondered if she should just hit ignore. Oberyn gave her a phone a curious look but looked up at her again.

"…Are you scared by the thought of us?"

"…I'm scared of a lot of things, Oberyn." She whispered. In that moment, Oberyn had finally seen Lyanna vulnerable, the pure fear in her eyes by the thought of what they're doing. He felt saddened, because he truly did like her, but if it was in her best interests not to continue what they were doing, then he would consent.

"I…if you want I can stop texting you." He said. She looked at him, confused.

"Why would you do that?" He gave her a confused look also.

"…Do you want this? If you don't want anything between us, I can stop. I'll only be Tyene's dad to you." He swallowed. It looked like it had taken a great deal of strength to be able to say it. Lyanna shook her head vehemently.

"That's not what I meant," Oberyn relaxed visibly. "I just meant that…I want this. I do, but I want to take our time. Your text freaked me out a little yes, but that doesn't me I don't want this," She stuttered. He smiled at her then, and she smiled back, both relieved they had worked through their confusion. Her phone started to ring again, and she saw that it was Renly once again. She held up a finger to Oberyn and opened the call, curious to what was going on.

"Renly?"

"Lyanna? Oh my God, Lyanna, I've been trying to call your phone for the past hour," Renly sputtered out, breathing hard into phone. Lyanna furrowed her eyebrows and walked over to the windows, wondering what was going on and why Renly was so freaked out. She saw Oberyn in the reflection of the window, looking curious as to what had happened.

"I was in school, what's going on Renly? Renly? Are you there? Renly?" Concern started to grip her when he wouldn't answer.

"Lyanna, Robert's in the hospital. It's serious."


	4. Chapter 4

_"Stranded in a fog of words_

_Loved him like a winter bird_

_On my head the water pours_

_Gulf Stream through the open door,"_

_-I Feel It All by Feist_

***

_Is everything okay? –Oberyn_

_Hey Lyanna! This is Ashara! I got your number from Brandon! Me and my bestie are going to have brunch tomorrow, and I was wondering if you would want to come? I texted Catelyn and she said sure, so hopefully you can make it! –Unknown number_

_I really, really appreciate you doing this. –Renly_

_I guess…just text me back when you're free, okay? –Oberyn_

_GOD, I need a drink. You, me, and dad's aged arbor gold tonight? DON'T SAY NO. –Brandon_

_Hai ms Staarrrk!!! It is tyene!!!!!! –Oberyn_

_Will you and Ned be okay with this? –Catelyn_

_IGNORE HER. –Oberyn_

All around her was the unfamiliar sounds of beeping machines, heart monitors clicking away and the coughs from patients in their rooms. Nurses and doctors sped along through the hallways, carrying samples of blood work and the like to their destination, or admitting and releasing patients. Lyanna had quietly laughed at the last couple of texts Oberyn had sent her, and a man waiting a couple of seats down from her gave her a funny look, and then went back to reading his magazine. Lyanna scrolled through the texts, trying to answer them all as quickly as possible before Ned came back out and told Lyanna it was her turn. There was only an hour left before visiting hours were done, and Lyanna was planning on just asking Robert how he was doing and to take care of himself, for Renly's sake. When Renly called her out of the blue yesterday, Lyanna was taken aback, but she wasn't entirely surprised. Robert was always a heavy drinker, and she had been told that it progressed worse after they broke up. When Oberyn asked her what happened, she tried stuttering out an excuse before finally telling him the truth. He kept a face devoid of any emotion when she told him that her ex had been put in the hospital, and that his little brother was asking her to come and see him. Lyanna felt guilty at putting him in such an awkward position, and it looked bad if he thought that she was still close to Robert, but Oberyn had said it was fine, and encouraged her to leave. They didn't talk much after school today because Tyene had a dentist appointment and Lyanna wanted to go home before she met up with her brother and came to the hospital.

_To: Unknown Number; Hey Ashara! I'd love to have brunch with you guys, just send me the address of where you're meeting!_

_To: Brandon; I can't get drunk tonight, I'm meeting your gf for brunch tomorrow._

_To: Catelyn; Ned is already in there, and I'll admit that I'm nervous._

She struggled with what to write back to Oberyn. _Thank you for being so understanding of the fact that I'm making sure my ex isn't drinking himself to death?_ She thought sarcastically. She impatiently tapped her foot, wanting to get this over with. Lyanna wondered if Ned was actually talking to Robert or was just giving him a death glare while she tried to come up with words to say. When she called up Ned after she left the school in a hurry yesterday, he had said no immediately. Ned refused to put up with Robert anymore, and Lyanna had too, but she had told him that she had started to let Renly's words eat at her, and that Robert might benefit from at least one conversation for his health. Ned sighed heavily into the phone then, and said he would meet her at the hospital the next day after she was done with school. In the end, Lyanna was glad that Ned had come with her to the hospital, because she didn't think she could handle looking at Robert by herself.

_To: Oberyn; Everything is fine…thank you._

_To: Oberyn; Hi Tyene :)_

"Lyanna." She looked up, eyes wide when Ned walked out of Robert's room, looking more haggard than ever. She stood up, brushing off the bread crumbs from her light snack off of her lap and met her brother halfway, hugging him tightly. They garnered some strange looks, hugging near the nurse's area as her older brother rocked her back and forth.

"What happened?" She muffled into his thick sweater. He sighed and ran his large hand through her dark hair, closing her eyes at the soothing and familiar sensation.

"He's in pretty bad shape."

"…Is he going to make it?"

"He'll be fine, if he cuts down on his alcohol consumption." He says in an annoyed tone. Lyanna squeezed his arms, silently thanking him for coming with her when he didn't want to. There was a lot of animosity towards Robert from the Starks after his and Lyanna's breakup, and Ned carried most of it, even though Lyanna could tell deep, deep down he didn't want his former best friend to die. "He asked if you came." She looked at her brother with wide eyes, suddenly scared to go inside and talk to her ex. "You don't have to go in Lya," Ned looked at her with his stern grey eyes, the scruff growing heavily on his jaw was mussed up, usually when he was under some stress.

Lyanna sighed heavily, and went back to hug her brother again, wrapping her arms as best as she could around his somewhat bigger midsection. "You're getting fat," She jokes slightly, and he chuckles, his laughter thundering in his chest as she laid her head right at her brother's heart. She breathed in deeply, and wriggled herself loose from Ned's embrace, giving him a shaky smile. "I'll be back soon."

She left Ned to sit down where she had been just a few minutes ago, and made her way to Robert's room, straightening her back as she reached his closed door. She faintly heard the whirring of the machines keeping him alive and knocked on the door gently, taking in deep breaths. This was the first time she would have seen Robert in more than a year, their breakup occurring just a month after Ned and Catelyn's wedding. He had been nearly as happy as Ned at the wedding, taking full advantage of the open bar and trying to kiss Lyanna all night long, whispering in her ear drunkenly that it would be them at the alter soon, the memory that now made her shudder. She could still remember his piercing blue eyes looking down at her small frame sloppily as he tried to convince her to take a small break from her wedding duties and have a little fun with him in his car. _Come on baby, it'll just take a few minutes,_ his voice had whispered in her ear. A voice croaked from inside, beckoning her to come in, and Lyanna pushed the door, bracing herself.

Robert was lying in the hospital bed, and could barely hold himself up. His skin had yellowed from the alcohol poisoning, and his once handsome face sagged at the moment, desperately trying to pour some ice water into a cup. His black hair, once lustrous and soft, had become tangled and stuck up everywhere, getting in his sallow eyes that now had a slight yellow tint. Lyanna made her way to his bedside, dropping her purse on the cushioned chair next to the bed, and took the water pitcher from Robert's grasp with no fight, and poured him the glass slowly, so as not to drop any ice onto Robert's bed and make him cold. She could feel his stare but didn't look his way, not wanting to get sucked in by him. He laid back onto his pillows, watching her sadly, and her eyes flickered over to him, her gaze covered by the curtain of hair that fell into her face. She gave him his water without a word and stepped back, going to sit in the chair and watched as he guzzled the water down, his Adam's apple bobbing up and down with each thirty sip he took. He was clean shaven, which Lyanna thought looked odd on him, considering he had always had a beard or at least some scruff covering his jaw since they had been dating. His hospital gown only barely just covered up the large stag tattoo on his left upper arm, the eyes glaring at her intensely as Robert's family motto 'Ours Is The Fury' smacked her in the face with memories. She remembered spending lazy summer nights in bed tracing that tattoo, staring at the ink and wondering if those words would become her motto too someday. She had guiltily admitted to not wanting to live by those words as they always felt too violent and brash for her. She had loved Robert, she wouldn't deny it, but whenever the question of marrying him came up, she felt like she had been paralyzed with fear. Lyanna supposed that in the back of her mind she always knew that she would never marry Robert, or his family words.

"Hey." Robert croaked, looking towards her. His blue eyes looked so down trodden at her, but Lyanna made sure to stare back at him, not wanting to back down.

"Hey," She replied softly.

"You came." He said, a small amount of hope leaking out into his tone. He tried to smile at her, but he was too weak and it came off more as a grimace.

"…Renly asked me to." Lyanna had to be straightforward. She was not here for Robert. She was here as a favor to Renly. Whatever small amount of hope that had been on Robert's face fell, and he nodded his head dumbly, as if he expected that was the case. Lyanna sighed heavily and closed her eyes, breathing in Robert's scent of woods and dirt, relieving memories of when they used to be happy. Robert stared at her, wanting to memorize each single detail of her face and comparing how she had lost a few freckles on cheek, but had gained some on the other.

"…What are you doing to yourself, Robert?" Lyanna asked quietly, half hoping he wouldn't hear the question. They sat in silence for another few minutes before Robert sniffed loudly, and a small tear escaped and fell down his cheek.

"I don't know," His usual booming voice had been replaced with a soft, meek one. "Everything hurts, all the time. I don't know what to do besides drink Lya, everything went to shit when you left." Lyanna didn't respond, and she could feel herself bringing up all the bitter memories of what he had done.

"You can't run away forever," She started, pausing and remembering the picture of the baby she found that unfortunate night. "You have a daughter now." She managed to spit out, subconsciously rubbing her wrist where he had left bruises twisting it during their fight long ago. Robert looked at her painfully.

"Lya…"

"You don't get to call me that anymore." Lyanna gritted her teeth as she locked eyes with Robert, a storm against the sea. Robert winced at her words and tried to choose them more carefully, taking another long sip of water.

"…I didn't mean for things to end like this."

"…How did you want them to end Robert? Did you honestly think that I'd be okay with you having a child with another woman behind my back?" Her voice started to rise and her face was becoming flushed with rising anger.

"I messed up-"

"No shit. You _knew_ too. You knew that girl was pregnant from the beginning, and you acted like everything was fine. God, you would have _never_ told me too if you had it your way. You hid this shit from me for _nine months_."

"I didn't know what to do!" He croaks, and Lyanna rolls her eyes, willing herself to keep calm, and to breathe in deeply. "…I couldn't lose you Lyanna. You mean too much to me." Lyanna shook her head vehemently, but Robert still talked, confidence growing in his voice and he sat up as best as he could. "I still love you. I do. Everything I do, you're there."

"Robert…"

"Please believe me Lyanna. I can change, really. I love you. I'd do anything for you." Lyanna shook her head.

"You may love me, but love can't change your nature Robert." He was stunned into silence after that, and Lyanna almost felt bad, but she had needed closure for so long. It needed to be said, and she was so close to moving on that she really couldn't regret it. Robert closed his eyes sadly and laid his head back on the pillow, breathing slowly.

"Mya did the funniest thing the other day," He started, and Lyanna raised her eyebrows, surprised that he was now talking about his daughter. "S-she was watching this cartoon, and she just started laughing so hard…she laughs like you. And sometimes I still think I'll wake up next to you, and that Mya was our daughter…and we'd all be happy." Lyanna looks to the side, trying her hardest not to cry in front of him, to give him any satisfaction that she would want to go back to him when that wasn't the case at all. She thought of being a mother to Robert's daughter, but all that popped up in her mind was hugging Oberyn's daughters instead and laughing heartily as she tickled Tyene, and Lyanna shook the image out of her mind. Lyanna sat with him in silence for another few minutes, watching him as he tried his best not to break down. At last, she couldn't take being in the room anymore, and stood up. Robert opened his eyes then, truly looking like the young boy she had known for years.

"Are you leaving?" His deep voice cracked. Lyanna bit her lower lip and nodded curtly, shoving her purse onto her shoulder. She felt claustrophobic all of a sudden and she had to leave. She couldn't bear being in the same room with the man who broke her heart and sent her spiraling into despair. She coughed slightly, trying to rid herself of the tears bubbling insides, and tried her best to keep her voice steady and cool.

"Take care of yourself Robert." She turned to leave but Robert cried her name out.

"Lyanna I-"

"Do it for Renly…do it for Mya, Robert." As she opened the door, Robert called out to her again.

"…I won't give up on you." Lyanna looked at him, sadness and contempt written on her face.

"How many times did you sleep with other women when we together?" She asked from the doorway, catching him off guard, but it did nothing to help him generate an answer. He just stared at her longingly, pain filling his eyes, and Lyanna had her answer then. Sighing, and choking back tears as she opened the door, she turned back towards Robert and swallowed all her fears.

"…I gave up on you a long time ago."

***

"Please don't tell her about the time-"

"The time you got so drunk off of dad's wine that Ned and I had to give you a bath so dad wouldn't get pissed?"

"Hah! She knows about that one, good try." Lyanna rolled her eyes as she talked to Brandon on the phone. She was almost to the restaurant that Ashara had recommended for brunch, and was waiting for Catelyn to arrive before heading inside. Brandon had begged her not to embarrass him in front of Ashara, and being the annoying litter sister, Lyanna had to do just the opposite. The snow was melting mostly, and while Lyanna was sad to see it go, she was glad she didn't have to worry about any of her students slipping on the playground for a few days now. She watched as friends and couples went in and out of the restaurant together while Brandon talked her ear off, and she rifled around in her purse making sure she had enough money for the meal. "Uh, so…how was yesterday at the hospital?" Her brother asked hesitantly. Lyanna pursed her lips in annoyance at his concern and briefly saw Catelyn's silver car flash by, parking a little bit away on the street, and hoped her sister in law would be quick enough to save her from this phone conversation.

"It was alright," She murmured into the phone.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm feeling fine Bran. Really. Ned even took me out for ice cream after." She said smiling, and Brandon laughed loudly into the phone, causing her to shrink back from the speaker, wincing and chuckling at her brother's antics. She was still reeling from meeting Robert yesterday, but she didn't want to let it affect her day. Catelyn still hadn't shown up next to her yet, and Lyanna stood on the top of her toes looking for her long auburn hair. She was messing around in the backseat of her car, and Lyanna smiled. Catelyn must have brought Robb along with her, and she was looking forward to spending some unexpected time with her little nephew. Catelyn looked up from the car then, and Lyanna waved at her from where she stood, beckoning her to come over. "Hey, I thought Ned had Robb today?" She spoke into her phone.

"Uhhh," Some static arose while Brandon spoke. "I think Ned got called into the station for something. Cat brought him with her?"

"Yes sir."

"Alright, well I gotta go sis, honor and duty calls. Have fun at lunch."

"It's brunch dumbass. Oh! Does Ashara know about the Barbrey incident from law school?"

"NO." He yelled and Lyanna cackled, Catelyn giving her a confused look as she pushed Robb in his stroller right next to her. "And she doesn't have to know. AT ALL, LYA."

"Okay, okay! I promise I won't tell. Now go win a case. Yea bye." She hung up on the call as Brandon shouted his goodbyes and smiled at Catelyn who smiled wearily back. Lyanna offered to push her nephew in and her sister in law gave her the greatest look of relief as she opened the glass door, allowing an older couple to pass through first. The restaurant was toasty warm with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg floating through the air, swirls of red, oranges and purples covering everything, with lush chairs and cushions and white linen cloths covering the tables with elegant soft pink peonies centerpieces drooping elegantly over their house of thin crystal vases. _This place must be super expensive,_ Lyanna thought. It seemed like the type of restaurant beautiful, classic ladies like Ashara or Catelyn would frequent, not carefee, 'I don't care if this dress has a stain on it' Lyanna. She was starting to regret the plum purple dress she had worn casually with leggings and her plain grey winter coat. Catelyn went to ask the hostess if Ashara and her friend were already seated while Lyanna hung back with Robb. She noted that her sister in law had worn her favorite blue-grey coat with a nice silver skirt and grey tights, and she wished that she had made more of an effort to look nicer for her brother's first serious girlfriend. Two waitresses caught sight of her nephew and were spoiling him with attention while he cooed happily, giggling when one of them played with his hands. One of them looked up towards Lyanna.

"He is so cute! How old is your son?" The girl smiled warmly and Lyanna smiled back.

"He's nine months, and he's actually my nephew. His mom is over there." She pointed to Catelyn, who was looking there way who only had smiles for her son. She waved for Lyanna to follow her towards the back of the restaurant and Lyanna nodded, turning towards the waitresses again and smiling politely.

"Oh! Sorry, he actually looks a bit like you, that's why I thought he was yours,"

"It's fine, nothing to worry about. Have a nice day," She bid to them and waved, following Catelyn's swishing red hair. Lyanna whispered down to her joyful nephew who cuddled with the grey wolf she had given him when he was born. "You're quite the attention seeker, Mr. Stark.", but Robb paid her no mind and Lyanna grinned. She looked up as she walked and saw Catelyn warmly embracing Ashara near the window as a waiter put down a high chair near the table. She drew close to them when Ashara noticed them, smiling widely and waited for Lyanna to come over. Ashara drew her immediately into a big hug.

"Oh I'm so glad you could make it! And hi baby," She cooed to Robb, who made grabby hands towards her. All three women laughed, and Catelyn allowed Ashara to take Robb out of the stroller while she folded it and leaned it against the wall. She bounced Robb in her arms as they all settled down at the table, Ashara sitting across from Catelyn and Lyanna facing an empty window.

"Is your friend not coming?" Lyanna asked. Ashara shook her head and pushed back some stray hair that fell across her forehead. Her makeup was light and looked professionally done, but Lyanna was relieved that she had dressed a little more casually as well.

"She's on her way, but she had to bring her baby as well, he was being a little fussy at his uncle's." Catelyn lit up at the mention of another baby there for Robb to play with. That, and she genuinely loved children and wanted to start trying for another.

"Oh that's okay! What are their names?"

Lyanna's phone buzzed in her purse at her feet. When she was certain that Ashara and Catelyn were busy talking, she quickly bent down and grabbed it, swiping open to see who had messaged her.

_Question; how do you manage to take care of so many small children at once? –Oberyn_

Confused by his question, Lyanna started to type out a message when she was sure that the two women in front of her were still distracted, but then realized that Oberyn had mentioned it was his turn to babysit his sibling's children this week.

_Haven't you done this before? –Lyanna_

"Do you want kids Ashara?" Lyanna looked up at the seemingly innocent question then, and noticed that while at face value Ashara looked normal, her violet eyes suddenly seemed pained and haunted with a past memory and her wide smile faltered just a bit. Robb was playing with some of her hair, tugging gently and she looked down, shaking her head and laughing off the awkward moment.

"Of course. I love kids, babies especially." She said as she pinched the redheaded baby's cheek lightly, making him giggle. Lyanna gave a quick look to Catelyn, who seemed to have noticed Ashara's sudden strange behavior as well, but both decided to not ask her about it. It was her business alone to know why she reacted that way. Ashara seemed to have recovered from the sudden question, handing back Robb to his mother who kept him in her arms for the time being, quickly pressing loving kisses onto his forehead. Lyanna smiled gently at the sight of a mother and her son, and her mind suddenly went to Robert's daughter Mya in his large, muscled arms handing her to Lyanna, and then to Oberyn's three daughters crowded around her, begging her for something, but for what she had no clue. She wondered why she was thinking about Mya sleeping in her arms, or Oberyn's daughters at all, when a dark haired woman with a pale baby came up to the table. Ashara yelped with glee and leapt from her cushioned seat, giving the woman a big hug and kissing her baby on its forehead.

"Catelyn, Lyanna, this is my best friend Elia! And her son Aegon, who is just the cutest," She cooed to the small blonde baby as he shrugged away and hid in his mother's neck. Elia laughed and stroked his head softly, sitting down and giving Lyanna a sweet smile. Elia's tan skin shone like amber in the sunlight, and her soft almond shaped brown eyes gave her heart shaped face a gentler look then that of her friend. Her straight black hair reached the middle of her back and was half up, strays of hair falling in front of her eyes. Lyanna took an immediate liking to her, and couldn't help but wonder why Elia looked so familiar. Elia shook both of their hands while holding on to her son on her other arm and had a firm grip. Lyanna's phone buzzed with impatience in her sweaty hands, but she didn't dare open it.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Aegon was feeling a bit restless earlier when I tried to drop him off." She said graciously. Catelyn nodded her head, clearly knowing the feeling. Elia smiled at the boy in Catelyn's arms, asking her about things only a mother would ask. Aegon looked curiously at Robb, his light purple eyes curiously darting everywhere.

_I have, but that doesn't mean they ever go well. Only one child is not in my care today. –Oberyn_

"What a sweetheart, how old is he?" Catelyn asked.

_Sick? Try putting on a movie? –Lyanna_

"He's a year old," Elia replied. "He's a momma's boy that's for sure," She laughed, her laughter filling the air and mixing in with everyone else's. Stroking her son's white blonde hair, she fastened him in the high chair next to him as Catelyn did the same with Robb, making a face as she let him go.

_My nephew was being a little difficult, so he didn't stay. I cannot watch another kid's movie. It's out of the question. –Oberyn_

The waiter came by and took their drinks and gave them a little more time to decide what they wanted to eat. "So how was everyone's week?" Ashara asked, flipping through the menu. They talked amongst themselves, discussing their week and whatever funny incidents they may have had happen to them.

_I'm sure you can handle ONE kid's movie. You don't even have to watch it! –Lyanna_

"You won't believe what my nieces tried to do the other day," Elia laughed good heartedly and Ashara rolled her eyes. She leaned in towards Lyanna and Catelyn like she was about to tell them a secret.

"Elia's nieces are the sweetest girls, but they get into so much trouble all the time." Catelyn shrugged her shoulders and chuckled.

"What did they do?"

"Two of my nieces were sick and couldn't go to school, so the other one would purposely try to get sick to avoid it too." Elia laughed. "They're so like my brother, it makes me miss being a child with him again." Lyanna didn't hear the story as her phone buzzed again, lighting up the screen in her lap.

_You don't understand. There are five little girls in my house at this moment running around who insist on me doing everything with them. I can't just ignore the movie. –Oberyn_

_I really can't watch Snow White again. –Oberyn_

"How is your brother doing? I haven't seen in him in a couple of months." Ashara asked. The waiter came back with their cups of tea and coffee and finally took their orders, which was Lyanna was thankful for as she was starving.

"He's doing pretty good! He was busy with work for a little bit, but he's started talking with this girl lately, I think he really likes her!" Elia said happily. Ashara raised her eyebrows in surprise and smirked.

"What? Your brother, the lothario?" Elia giggled.

_I loved Snow White! –Lyanna_

"I know! They're not dating yet but he's pretty serious about her."

_…I don't think we should talk anymore. –Oberyn_

Lyanna guffawed but realized her mistake when everyone looked towards her. She cleared her throat and turned towards Ashara. "Speaking of being serious, Brandon's pretty serious about you," She teased and Ashara blushed, electing to take a sip of her tea. Elia cackled next to her.

"She's pretty serious about him too." She teased. Ashara shrugged.

"He's really good to me…he doesn't treat me like I'm stupid because I like girly things like my past boyfriends, and actually laughs at my jokes," She goes on, smiling at nothing and Lyanna's heart tugs with joy for her brother. Ashara turns towards her, smiling shyly. "Your brother is a great guy."

Lyanna shrugs jokingly. "He's alright," she laughs.

_There is only so much Disney a grown ass man can take. I'm putting on Harry Potter. –Oberyn_

_Good thing you're not a teacher. Do you give up this easily at work too? –Lyanna_

_Woman, please. It took me eight years of learning to know how to blow shit up. Do you think I would give up so easily? –Oberyn._

The ladies continued to talk for another twenty minutes before their food arrived. Lyanna dug into her chocolate crepes with strawberries on top almost immediately, trying to avoid looking like a slob in front of Elia and Ashara. Catelyn ate delicately, taking her time chewing and making sure Robb wasn't becoming too bored in his chair, but he was too busy gurgling at Aegon.

"Looks like they've become fast friends," Elia mentioned, wiping off some drool from her son's face.

"Is he your first?" Catelyn asked.

"No, I have a six year old daughter as well. My sister in law's and I were pregnant at the same time," She laughed. "My daughter Rhaenys is very close to her cousins, especially my little brother's youngest, Tyene."

Lyanna choked on her coffee and Ashara patted her on the back, everyone looking at her with concern. She was still coughing a little when everyone asked what happened all of a sudden and if she was okay, but Lyanna ignored them, looking straight at Elia.

"Tyene? Tyene what?" Elia gives her a strange look and looks between Catelyn and Ashara, looking to them for answer but they had none.

_Tyene wants you to know that she knows her times table, she was very insistent you know. –Oberyn_

"Tyene Martell…do you know my niece?" Elia questions, her thick eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Catelyn gives a small 'Oh!' and starts snickering into her tea cup. Lyanna is still in a panic.

"Is she blonde? Very small? Goes to King's Landing Elementary?" Lyanna asks insistently. Recognition dawns on Elia's face.

"Yes that's it! How do you know her?"

"Lyanna is her kindergarten teacher," Catelyn giggles. Elia's mouth shapes into an 'O' and smiles knowingly at Lyanna then, giving her a closed lip smile and takes her cup of tea and brings it to her lips. Ashara hits her on the arm, giving her a look when Elia starts laughing. Ashara turns towards Catelyn, who was too busy laughing silently, and then to Lyanna, who was staring at her half eaten crepe shyly, burning red in the face which was quickly descending down her neck.

"Is someone going to tell me what's going on?" Ashara asked, exasperated.

"Ashara…Lyanna is the girl Oberyn has been talking to…" Elia said, trying to contain her laughter. Ashara's face became surprised and looked at Lyanna, her wide smile growing bigger and bigger. She slapped Lyanna lightly on the arm, from which she recoiled and gave her a strange look.

"Oh my God! You're dating Oberyn! Like full time?" She squealed. Lyanna blushed and tried to explain that they weren't exactly dating.

"I-I wouldn't say that we're dating-"

"Oh I see," Ashara said dramatically, looking towards Elia, who just smiled kindly at the both of them. She ripped a bite off her muffin and stuffed it in her mouth, chewing quickly. "You," Ashara swallowed, "Don't want to talk about Oberyn in front of his sister." Elia snorted and Catelyn took a couple of deep breaths to calm down.

"Oh my God," Lyanna groaned, embarrassed.

***

_"He talks about you a lot." Elia said in the restroom, touching up her eyeliner. Lyanna washed her hands delicately, looking up at Oberyn's sister in the mirror. Elia turns to look at her and smiles genuinely, moving to touch Lyanna's arm, her warm hand radiating heat on Lyanna's pale skin._

_"You're…not bothered by this?" Lyanna said hesitantly. Elia shook her head and turned back to the mirror, leaning closer so she wouldn't smear anything on her face. Lyanna thought that she would have been, considering her and Elia were about ten years apart and that she met Oberyn through Tyene._

_"No. I never really cared for the girls Oberyn would take out once and be done with. But you're nice. You can bring him down from his pedestal," She chuckled. "And you love his girl. Well, you may not 'love' her, but you're kind to her, and kind to him. He likes that."_

_Lyanna didn't speak for another minute while she watched Elia finish. "I like him a lot." She confesses, and Elia turns towards her again, bright eyed._

_"Good." She said. "So take charge, and ask him out."_

Lyanna kept thinking about that conversation she held with Elia privately earlier that afternoon as she looked out into the cold blue pond in front of her, sitting down at the bench at the park. She needed a place to clear her head after the events of the long week she had. She drove to the park after bidding goodbye to her new friends and Catelyn and drove aimlessly for a little while in the city, getting lost on unfamiliar streets before finally coming across the lonely park she was in now. She was skipping stones into the pond, breaking the silence of the water and all of its inhabitants as she threw down the flat rounded stones from the bench. She rewrapped her pretty ice blue scarf around her neck again as she shivered from the chill in the air, bundling herself in her coat and pulling down her white beret on her hair again.

"I hope you're not throwing those rocks so hard because of one meal with my sister." A voice behind her teased. Startled, Lyanna turned around quickly, her grey eyes wide with panic. Oberyn Martell was standing behind her, kicking some slush off of his shoes with his hands in his coat pockets. He looked up at her then, his smoldering gaze catching her off guard and unable to look away as he moved around the bench, sitting right next to her as their legs almost touched. The energy between them was undeniable, and Lyanna squirmed from the sudden attention. "Of course, she can be a pain in the ass sometimes." Oberyn mentioned, looking out towards the pond, stretching one arm behind her and laying it on the top of the bench. Lyanna looked at his long, calloused fingers behind her, watching them tap the wooden surface. _I wonder what else they can do…_ Lyanna thought, but then blushed furiously at the topic her mind had switched to. _Think of Tyene, think of Tyene…_ She closed her eyes and thought fast.

"Hey," Oberyn said. "She didn't give you a hard time did she?" He asked with concern.

"No, no, it was nice meeting her, she was super sweet."

They sat in silence after that, neither of them wanting to disrupt the serenity they felt at that moment. She wondered how he had managed to escape his family, and somehow run into her. She looked at his face then, watching as he took deep breaths in the frosty air and his eyes closed, looking utterly relaxed. She relaxed too then, scooting further back into the bench and lightly hitting his arm, noting that she was closer to his body now and could feel the radiant heat pouring off of him.

"How's your ex?" He asked gruffly, catching her off guard.

"…alright."

Oberyn looked at her then, his intense stare fixated on her. Her eyes flickered down to his thin lips, slightly cracked by the cold air, and wondered how it would feel to have them on hers. She felt herself leaning in and saw him do it too, before he stopped himself and straightened up, clearing his throat. She couldn't help but feel disappointed as she avoided his stare.

"Lyanna."

"Hmm."

"…Are you still in love with him?" He asked bluntly, and Lyanna whipped her head around, furious that he could even ask such a thing.

"No!" He gave her a look then, and she sighed, not wanting to go into it. "I only visited him as a favor for his little brother." She explained, but that did nothing to ease his tension.

"I don't love him." She said with a note of finality. And she didn't. Hell, she was starting to wonder if she had even loved him at all. She had, but the memory of loving Robert was gone, only just memories in the back of her mind.

"I only asked because…if we're going to do this, I want both of us going in with a clear head." He explained.

"I understand." It wasn't selfish of him to ask her that, and for the most part, she did have a clear head and she did want something between them. If they were going to do this, she wanted to be able to give it her all.

"…What did he do to you?" He asks finally, confusion crossing his face.

Lyanna swallowed. "He…got another girl pregnant. I didn't find out until after she had the baby." Oberyn hisses, and she looks to see fury on his face. He takes her pale wintry white hand in his, massaging the joints and knuckles gently, working some heat back into her almost frozen extremities.

"I'm sorry he did that to you."

"…I'm sorry I let him do that to me." He looks at her while still holding her hand, playing with her fingers now. She didn't realize their size difference until she paid close attention, his large hand covering most of her dainty one. "Oberyn?"

"Yes?"

"What happened to the girls mom?" Oberyn looks at her, a pained look on his face. He tries his best to smile, but it wasn't convincing in the slightest.

"That's a story for another day I'm afraid."

Lyanna nodded her dumbly, as if she didn't just ask him one of the stupidest questions of all time. Obviously it was still a sore subject for him to discuss.

"Go out with me." He blurts out after a minute of silence.

"Huh?"

"I said, go out with me. Somewhere. Anywhere. We could go get dinner, or see a movie in theatres. Shit, if you want to go mini golfing, I'll suffer through it." He said, and Lyanna laughed at his dramatics.

"No mini golf is required," She giggled, and he rolled his eyes, scratching at the scruff growing on his chin.

Just like the patch of blue winter roses growing underneath their feet, their relationship started to bloom in the cold wintry air.


	5. Chapter 5

_"Older chests reveal themselves_

_Like a crack in the wall_

_Starting small and grow in time_

_And we always seem to need the help_

_Of someone else,"_

_-Older Chests by Damien Rice_

***

"Wake up brat."

"Hmmm." Lyanna snuggled into her tiny childhood bed more, holding on tightly to her pillow and hoping her brothers would leave her alone as she tried to catch up on some much needed sleep. She had forgotten to turn off her alarm for the weekdays, and was once again woken up at five in the morning, but had just pressed snooze and conked out again. Strong arms tried to shake her awake, but Lyanna just groaned with indignation at the intruder.

"Come on Lya! You always make us breakfast on thanksgiving morning! It's almost ten thirty!" Benjen whined.

"Five more minutes…" Lyanna whispered sleepily into her pillow, making a cocoon with her blankets.

"Lyanna, five minutes to you is an hour. Wake up!" Brandon said in her ear, and Lyanna just shut her eyes tighter, trying to shut her brothers out. Brandon sighed and put his hand on her upper back, grabbing the band of her bra and snapping it against her skin. Lyanna jolted awake in pain, her howling and Brandon's wild laughter mixing in together.

"You dick!" Lyanna took her pillow and swung it at her older brother's head, just barely missing him as he ducked out of the way, holding his stomach as he lay down on her bed and cackled. Benjen was hiding his face, while his shoulders shook up and down from snickering so hard. Lyanna climbed out of her covers like a child and went to sit on Brandon's stomach, smirking when he made an 'oof' sound and tried to push her off. Lyanna put more force into weight so she would be heavier to her brother, while Brandon struggled to push her off.

"Damn fatty, what have you been eating?" He joked, and Lyanna punched him in the arm, making no effect on him.

"You're thirty two Brandon! Stop snapping my bra!" Lyanna exclaimed, trying to hit him again, but he caught her hands in his large ones, grinning up at her, his messy hair sticking up everywhere. He put more force into his arms, slowly pushing back whatever Lyanna was trying to give, and pushed her off of him onto her small bed, while he jumped up and stretched, laughing heartily. Lyanna glared at her oldest brother from her bed, narrowing her eyes as she tried her hardest to fight the small smile off of her face. Soon, she was giggling along with her brothers, and Brandon helped her to her feet, tickling her sides as she thrashed away from her, laughing.

"God I'm starving. Pancakes?" Brandon suggested, walking over to her door and juggling with the knob, throwing it open into the sunlit hallway. Lyanna threw on an old sweater that was lying on her old desk, some of her homework from high school still sticking out from dusty folders and binders.

"Chocolate chips or bananas?" Lyanna yawned.

"Uh both?" Brandon made a face at her, questioning how she could ever ask him to pick. Lyanna rolled her eyes and followed him out of her old room, Benjen following behind as the three of them stomped around their childhood home, barging downstairs into the kitchen where their father read the newspapers and Ned trying his hardest to feed Robb his sad meal of mashed bananas. Catelyn walked in at the same time as they did, giving a sleepy smile to everyone and greeted her husband with a kiss on the cheek, and did the same for her son. Lyanna yawned once more, putting her frizzy hair into a ponytail and pulling the arms of her sweater over her hands, trying to wipe the evidence of her slumber away from her face. She walked over to the pantry, pulling a few things out that was needed for the recipe and pushed them into Ben's outstretched arms, eager to help her. She smiled sweetly at her baby brother and watched him stumble around the kitchen, weaving around the counter top and pushing everything aside to make room. Lyanna looked back towards the pantry, rifling around and looking for the one ingredient she needed, cursing when she couldn't find it. Lyanna popped out her head and looked towards the kitchen, watching everyone.

"We seriously don't have flour?" Brandon groaned, partly annoyed and mostly hungry. Cat made a face at her.

"We don't have cranberry sauce either, and I might need to make more stuffing."

"Guess that means you kids have to make a trip to the grocery store." Their father said indifferently, turning the page of his newspaper, his rectangular glasses perched on the edge of his nose.

"I'll go." Lyanna sighed. "Can someone make me a list of what we need?" Catelyn nodded and went to go get some paper and a pen.

"I'll come with you." Benjen announced, looking a little nervous all of a sudden. Lyanna raised an eyebrow at her usually lazy younger brother, and Ned gave him a curious look along with their dad.

"What's up with you Ben?" Brandon asked, giving him a look. Benjen turned red at the sudden attention and muttered something under his breath, moving into the living room to get his parka. Lyanna shrugged and moved to follow him, grabbing the quick list of things needed that Catelyn had written and stole Brandon's warm beanie off of the kitchen counter, who only grunted in slight annoyance as she let her hair down and tugged the hat on. The front door was slightly ajar, and Lyanna shoved her feet into her gym shoes before bracing herself for the wind chill and ran outside to her car, which Benjen had already opened and was sitting in the passenger seat, staring off into the distance. Lyanna plopped herself down into the driver's seat, turning on the heater and then turned to her brother.

"What's up with you, lazy?" She teased, putting her car into drive, and started to pull out. Her eyes flickered to her fidgeting brother, and she grew more serious.

"Benjen."

"Yea?"

"Seriously, is something wrong?"

"I…it's nothing."

Lyanna gave him a look as she turned down their street onto the main road and down to the grocery store. They wouldn't be able to go to their local one, guessing that it was probably already ransacked by now, so Lyanna was driving to the one near her elementary school, a good twenty minute journey. Thankfully, traffic wasn't so bad so she was able to maneuver herself prey well without running into any jerks on the road.

"It's not nothing Ben. I know you. Something's up." Her little brother sighed and slumped in the passenger seat, fiddling with the seat belt. She stared at him once she stopped at a red light, growing more concerned with each passing second.

"I wanted to talk to you about something, but now I'm second guessing myself." Benjen murmured finally, his voice growing quieter. Lyanna kept her eyes on the road, but her thoughts started to go wild with concern.

"What's going on?" She asked.

"I…I found this really great job up north. It's a park ranger position, but I don't know if I would get it." He said quietly. Lyanna took a deep breath, relieved. She made a few more turns, passing the elementary school completely and going straight, finally seeing the looming grocery store and the many bustling customers.

"You half scared me to death Ben. And you always wanted to be a ranger, why are you hesitating now?" She asked him, turning into the parking lot, and swerving around some of the lazy walkers. She groaned in frustration at the pedestrians taking their time in front of her, cursing under her breath.

"I don't really know…it's a great job. It's for a national park and I'd get to spend all my time outdoors, but…I don't know if I have enough experience?" Ben made an excuse, and Lyanna pursed her lips at him, sensing that wasn't the reason at all. She found a parking spot closer to the entrance, turning her engine off and took off her seat belt, slightly lowering the heat in the car before turning towards Benjen.

"That's bullshit Ben. You have plenty of experience! You worked all those summer camp jobs, and you _loved_ teaching kids about the environment and nature. I thought you would have jumped all over this." She raised an eyebrow at him. Benjen squirmed under his sister's focus, and she softened up a little. "What's _really_ going on Bennie?" She said softly, using her old nickname for him and taking his hand, squeezing softly.

"I don't want to leave you guys if I go north." He said finally, choking on his words. Lyanna furrowed her eyebrows, confused. Benjen looks at her, his soft grey eyes fixated on her face and bit his lip. "But I feel like I wouldn't be missed much either." He says, looking down at the sudden hurt crossing Lyanna's face.

"Ben! Why would you say that?" Lyanna asked.

"You, Bran and Ned were always close-"

"And you weren't?" Lyanna retorted. "You and I were thick as thieves when I graduated high school Ben. Hell I thought we still were."

"I didn't mean it like that, but I always just thought that I was the black sheep of the family, you know? I was the last one at home and when I started college, everyone had their own lives by then. Even Brandon's trying to settle down now." Benjen cracked his knuckles nervously and Lyanna sighed, settling in the back of her seat and staring at her window. She went to clutch her brother's hand again and he gave it up willingly, squeezing with all his might.

"We never forgot you Bennie, we love you. So much," Lyanna said softly, making circles with her thumb on his hand, and Benjen nodded slowly. "I don't want you to feel lonely and by yourself, and neither does Brandon or Ned. Just because we're starting our own lives doesn't mean we'll forget you. You're our baby," She joked, overwhelmed with sudden emotion and slightly tearing up at her brother's confession. "You'll be starting your own life soon when you graduate."

Benjen nodded. "So you think I was being stupid?" He smiles shakily.

Lyanna snorts. "Of course you were being stupid. And even if you move north, we'll still see each other all the time. Tell you what, if you get this job, I'll come visit on weekends okay?" Lyanna squeezed his hand, trying to comfort him and he smiled back, more confident now. "So are you going to apply then?"

"Yea I'll apply, but if I don't get it you're buying me drinks." He warned, trying to keep the grin off of his face and Lyanna cackled, throwing open her door and stepping out of the car. It was a fairly nice day despite the wind, and Lyanna tucked her arm into Benjen's and tried to skip off, but Ben's lanky body had grown a little more muscular and held her down, making her pout up at him while he giggled. Ben grabbed a cart in the middle of the road and they both made their way to the entrance, sighing happily as they were greeted with a warm blast of air.

"Hey…" Benjen started, making Lyanna turn around. "You won't tell Bran or Ned about our conversation, right?"

Lyanna smiled and nodded her head. "Of course not."

Benjen smiled back, his wide smile returning to his once forlorn face. "Alright."

"Do you need help with your resume?" Lyanna asked, digging the list of ingredients needed from her sweatpants pocket. Ben nodded.

"Yeah I do, it looks like a mess. Bran said he would help out with organizing some of the stuff."

"That's good. Okay, so we need some things for the dinner tonight, and then we need stuff for breakfast. How about we split up?" Lyanna tore the list in half and gave one part to Benjen, who skimmed the list before nodding. "I'll meet you by the fruit aisle okay?" They parted ways, Lyanna trying to find some flour for their pancakes, figuring she should get at least two bags because of her family's ravenous appetite. When she finally found the baking aisle, she was surprised to see two tall men arguing in front of the cake mixtures, their voice starting to grow a little louder. Lyanna tried to ignore them as she went straight to the flour bags, looking for a specific brand.

"Arianne hates strawberry."

"Arianne hates _everything_ , Doran."

"She will throw a fit, and then no one will want to eat dessert."

"How could Mellario do this to us? She knows pie is a tradition."

"She's tired of pie."

"And I'm tired of that bullshit excuse Doran…Lyanna?"

Lyanna looked up at her name, scared at the fact that this stranger knew her name, but when she saw Oberyn's surprised face looking at her in shock, it took some effort for her jaw not to drop.

"Oberyn…" She breathed his name out, and he grinned at her, the lines by his eyes crinkling. She found her heart beating a little erratically in her chest as she smiled back, forgetting about the bags of flour. The man next to Oberyn looked at her with a stony face, the same lean build and sharp features that belonged to Oberyn. His salt and pepper hair matched with his beard, and his sharp nose came down in an angle as his black eyes watched Lyanna. Lyanna felt her smile die down some as the man stared at her, biting her lip in sudden shyness. Her eyes flickered down to the white gauze covering both of his hands, a few band aids covering various spots on his thin, spidery fingers. There were some small pink marker drawings on the gauze, little stick figures playing with a ball.

"This is my brother Doran. Doran, this is Lyanna Stark." Doran raised an eyebrow at his brother's introduction, but held out a hand for Lyanna to shake, his face still rigid.

"Nice to meet you."

"Likewise," Lyanna stuttered out, nervous. She had heard the CEO of Water Gardens was a tough man, possibly even more ruthless than his younger brother. Lyanna had never seen Oberyn in action, but she didn't doubt that he was a fearsome man to work with. Doran, on the other hand, she was sure that this man played no games, in or out of the office. _Elia was so sweet, how is she possibly related to them?_ Lyanna wondered. She turned to Oberyn, who was now frowning at her slightly frightened expression, and smiled at him.

"Uh, so what are you guys doing here?" She asked, trying to make some conversation.

Oberyn and Doran looked at each other, slightly smirking. "We had some change of dinner plans last minute." Oberyn explained, and Lyanna chalked it up to what they were discussing before they noticed her next to them.

"Hey Lya, do you think Cat will mind if we don't buy the brand she wanted, I couldn't find…" Benjen came up behind her, looking up from the cans he was holding and looked at Lyanna and the two men in front of him with confusion. "Um, I can go back," Ben murmured, but Lyanna grabbed his arm, glad her little brother was here to make things less awkward.

"No, no it's fine! This is my little brother Benjen!" Lyanna introduced. "Benjen, this is Doran and Oberyn Martell." They both smiled somewhat to Benjen, and his eyes widened in recognition.

"M-Martell? Like…Water Gardens? Oh my God…" Benjen breathed out, and Oberyn smirked at him.

"I take it you're familiar with us?" He asked.

Benjen nodded his head fervently, his face still in shock. "Wow…your water filter is one of the best I've seen! The way the iodine is added in before the filtration…" He trailed off, looking at Oberyn in awe, who was giving Benjen a fond look. Doran looked slightly impressed, but his face was still impassive, Lyanna wondered what he could possibly be thinking.

"Ben's a senior in environmental science," Lyanna explained, proud of her little brother as she rubbed his back. "He's a big activist for the clean water initiative."

Oberyn smiled. "Good. We need more people thinking that way."

"You have anything lined up after you graduate?" Doran asked. Benjen turned a little red and shook his head no. Doran shrugged nonchalantly. "Nothing to be ashamed of, son. We all start somewhere." Oberyn looked at his watch then, and cursed.

"Shit. We have to go. Mellario must be waiting." Doran smiled at the mention of the name, putting his left hand back into his pocket. He turned towards Lyanna and Benjen, nodding goodbye as he grabbed one of the cake mixtures off the shelf and leaving the aisle. Benjen stared after him, still surprised that one of his idols actually just talked to him. Oberyn started to move forward, but took a hold of Lyanna's arm and bending down to her face, whispering in her ear.

"Are we still on for tomorrow?" Lyanna looked at him then, staring at his serious face and then grinned.

"Yeah. Tomorrow." Oberyn smirked.

"Tomorrow it is," He whispered and let go of her arm, clapping Benjen on the back who jumped in surprise and smirked at him.

"Nice meeting you kid. Maybe we can talk filters sometime."

Benjen laughed slightly at Oberyn's retreating figure. "Yea…sometime…" Ben turned towards Lyanna, who had a dreamy and far off look on her face. He tugged on her sweater insistently.

"You know the Martells? You didn't tell me?!" He whispered angrily. Lyanna jerked away from him, giving him a look.

"It's not like I knew they would both be here! And I only know Oberyn."

 _"You only know Oberyn._ Oberyn _Martell_. He created the Sunspear Iodine Filter. _The Sunspear Iodine Filter_. It won _awards_ , Lyanna. The purified water tastes _so_ good."

"Please don't orgasm in the baking aisle."

"How do you know him?!"

"I teach his daughter, happy?" Lyanna huffed.

"You looked a little cozy there before he left," Benjen pointed out, narrowing his eyes at her. Lyanna pursed her lips and rolled her eyes, bending down to grab the flour they needed and shoved it in the cart, wheeling it out of the aisle as Ben tried to catch up. "Is something going on between you two?"

"Possibly."

" _Possibly?_ Lyanna…"

"What? Benjen."

"Um…could you get me an internship?"

***

"Robb. _No._ "

Brandon held a drooling Robb a few inches away from him as Catelyn put the finishing touches on the thanksgiving feast. She had just put down the salad as Lyanna fluttered down the stairs in her new long sleeved red dress, with just a few touches of makeup and her hair nicely straightened. She walked over to Brandon and took her nephew out of his arms, her brother giving her a grateful look as he went to the bathroom to salvage his shirt. Ned came out of the kitchen carrying the tray of the large turkey he and Brandon went hunting for a couple days earlier. Lyanna was impressed that they managed to clean it up so nicely in time for the dinner, and breathed in the deep aroma of the herbs sprinkled on top.

"Smells great, Ned." She complimented, and Ned smiled up at her modestly, placing the tray in the middle of the dining table. Their father walked into the dining room then, smiling at them and sitting at the head of the table. Brandon and Benjen walked in then too, looking mischievous as ever, and Lyanna rolled her eyes at the sight of them. They all took their seats, Ned sitting across their father, with Catelyn and Robb in his highchair on one side and Lyanna on the other. Benjen sat next to Lyanna and across from Brandon, and she thought she saw them wink at each, and scowled. _What are they up to now?_ Someone cleared their throat and everyone turned towards the head, where their father was waiting to begin, holding out his hands. Everyone turned towards each other, holding out their hands to grab and made a circle, bowing their heads as Rickard Stark began to speak.

"Heavenly Father, we thank thee for the food provided in front of us, and the Mercy you have granted us this year. We thank you for our continued health and strength, and all things good. We are grateful for the baby you blessed upon our family this year, Ned's promotion to warden, Brandon's continuing success as a lawyer, Lyanna's work of educating future generations, Catelyn's incredible strength of duty and family, and Benjen's upcoming college graduation. I ask that you take care of my children in the next year Father, and provide them with the happiness that they deserve. Amen."

"Amen." A chorus of voices joined in. They all looked up at each other and Lyanna made eye contact with Brandon across for her, who wiggled his eyebrows at her and pointed to the turkey. Lyanna smirked, and mouthed 'pig' to him, both struggling not to laugh. Ned pulled out his tools to start carving the turkey, and everyone began to start serving themselves the delicious food piled all around. Lyanna served herself a generous glass of red wine, passing the bottle to Catelyn and piling her plate with mashed potatoes and gravy, some seasoned yams, a large piece of the cornbread Brandon had baked this year and some green beans and salad. Ned served her a few rather large pieces of turkey, but when she tried to protest he just gave her the look that had scared her since childhood, and instead quietly grumbled about being overfed. Once everyone's food was served, and the wine was flowing freely, conversations finally started to begin.

"Shall we start our meal by stating what we are thankful for this year?" Their father suggested, and everyone nodded.

"You can start Dad." Ned said. Catelyn pulled Robb out of his high chair and tried to feed him some mashed potatoes, nibbling curiously on the new, strange food. Rickard Stark cleared his throat before beginning.

"I'm thankful for my children, my grandson and my good health. Brandon?"

Brandon grinned and cleared his throat dramatically, winking at Benjen who struggled to hold in his snickers. "I, Brandon of House Stark-" Lyanna groaned loudly, earning a playful glare from her brother and a look from her dad. "-am thankful for the wonderful family I get to come home to, my job, and-" Brandon starts laughing at this point, and triggers Benjen into giggles too.

"And what?" Ned glowered, warning Brandon not to say what he thinks his brother is going to say.

"And that my life is more put together than Lyanna's." Brandon snorts, hiding his face while Benjen erupts into a loud, singular laugh and quiets down, still giggling. Lyanna's jaw drops at her brother's statement, and she grabs a dinner roll from the basket in front of her, aiming for her brother's head but misses entirely.

"What the _fuck_ Brandon?" She hisses and Brandon laughs even more, tears forming in his grey eyes.

"Lyanna!" Catelyn gasped, covering her son's ears.

" _Language_." Her father points his fork at her, his face serious. Lyanna immediately points her finger towards Brandon, incredulous that he would discipline her instead.

"Are you not going to say anything to him?" Their father glares at his eldest son, who was not at all coming down from his laughing fit and shook his head, prompting Lyanna to childishly declare revenge in her thoughts as she glowered at the both of them.

"Benjen? Do you have anything to be thankful for?" Their father asked, trying to calm his children down. Benjen nodded slowly, calming down from his laughter. Lyanna saw that her little brother had already spilled a small amount of wine on his shirt already, and no matter how annoyed she was, fought to keep the smile off her face.

"Um, I'm thankful for my supportive family, that I will be graduating from Westeros in the spring, and that Lyanna doesn't smell like a horse anymore." Benjen's voice cracked from the laughter bubbling in his voice, and Brandon guffawed, setting the two of them off again as Lyanna stewed in anger.

"I saw _The Avengers_ with you when no one else wanted to go. _Twice_." She sneered at Benjen, trying to put her baby brother in his rightful place as last on the totem pole.

"Boys. _Enough_." Their father commanded, his glare stopping them from laughing anymore. "Catelyn?"

"My husband, my darling boy, and the family that accepted me so warmly." Catelyn smiled and took Ned's hand gently. Ned cleared his throat before speaking.

"My old family and new, and that I have the ability to take care of both."

"Oh come on Ned," Brandon groaned. "We were all supposed to make fun of Lyanna tonight."

"I never agreed to that, and I warned you that you'd be in trouble." Ned pointed out.

"See? This is why Ned is my favorite." Lyanna interjected, thankful that at least one of her brothers defended her. Brandon rolled his eyes at her before gesturing to Catelyn to hand over Robb, carefully holding him up from his stomach and speaking in a baby voice, making his nephew giggle.

"I'm so thankful for my mommy and daddy, and the best uncle in the world." Brandon spoke in a high voice, making everyone laugh while Robb thrashed happily at the attention he was receiving. He handed Robb back to his mother, who cuddled him to her chest as she tried once more feeding him, and everyone turned towards Lyanna.

"Your turn, Lya." Ned said.

And as Lyanna looked at the family sitting around her, she realized that even though they had gotten on her nerves most of the time, and tried to make fun of her for no reason, she could never be truly mad at them. Her family had pulled her out of some of the darkest times of her life, waiting in the shadows to swoop down and pull her to her feet again. She made eye contact with each one of her brothers, her father, her sister in law and her nephew, remembering a sudden memory tied to each of them and smiled gently.

"It seems the only thing I really need to be thankful for are the people sitting in front of me."

***

"I'm so full." Lyanna groaned as she lay down on the couch, putting her head in Brandon's lap as he moaned from being stuffed. "When can we have pie?" She asked, looking towards her father as Brandon cackled weakly from above her, gently stroking her hair and making her sleepy.

"Typical Stark…" He chuckled. "Always eating."

"I have a fast metabolism…" Lyanna yawned, curling up like a cat in her brother's lap. Their father smiled gently at his grown children, wondering when the time passed. He got up slowly from his recliner, trying not to disturb his half sleeping kids, and went to the kitchen to pester his daughter in law about indulging him with a slice of pie.

"Hey Lya, I need to ask you something." Brandon said casually. Lyanna grunted in response, her eyes still trying to flutter themselves shut so she could sleep. Brandon took it as a reply to keep talking. "It's about Ashara." This got Lyanna's attention, but she still didn't move from her comfortable position.

"What about her?"

"Do you like her?" Lyanna shifted her body around so she was looking up at Brandon, his usual cheery face had grown serious. It unnerved her to see her brother like this.

"Of course, she's really great. But what's up?" Brandon scratched his head, looking towards the stairs, and Lyanna wondered if he was remembering her surprise birthday party, where he and Ashara sat on the steps all night laughing and being affectionate.

"I'm…going to meet her family soon."

Lyanna sat up then, twisting her body so she faced him and sat indian style, interested in the conversation now. _"Really?"_ She whispered. Brandon had never met a girl's parents before, and now she was shocked to find his ways so quickly changing. He mouthed 'I know' to her before sighing deeply and mussing up his combed hair into his usual fashion.

"Brandon…this is serious for you isn't it?"

"Yea it is," He laughed nervously. "And you know what?"

"What?"

"We've been talking our future plans…she asked me I ever wanted to get married."

" _What?!_ And what did you say?" Lyanna was taken aback at the bluntness of Ashara. She wondered if Brandon had broken it off with Ashara because she brought up marriage, and she silently cursed her brother for letting such a great girl go.

"I said I was open to it." Lyanna stared at Brandon dumbly, trying to catch her jaw from dropping as they looked at each other. Brandon started to smile like a fool and laughed giddily, and Lyanna huffed and started to laugh quietly with her love struck brother. She briefly wondered if she would ever get to that stage with Oberyn, but shook it off. _We haven't even had dinner together._ She thought, a little jealously. "Look at the two of us Lya, two dumbasses in love."

Taken off guard, Lyanna stopped laughing and looked at her brother curiously. "What do you mean, _two_ dumbasses in love?" She asked cautiously, and Brandon smirked at her, becoming his usual self.

"Come on Lya, I can connect the dots. You think I wouldn't know about Oberyn Martell?"

"What! How do you know about him?"

"Ashara's not good at keeping secrets." She cursed the beautiful woman in her head.

"Well it's nothing like that."

"Really?" He quirked an eyebrow at her. "Because every time I have seen you in the past month, I've never seen you smile so stupidly."

"And how would you know?"

Brandon smiles at her gently then. "Every time I look at Ashara, I'm sure I smile the same." Lyanna looks at her brother then, and finally sees the man he now was, not the boy who played with girls hearts. An overwhelming emotion overcame her senses, and she tackle hugged Brandon, burying her face into his shoulder, trying to hide the tears overflowing her eyes. Brandon laughed and hugged her back, rubbing her back.

"I don't love him." She muttered into his shoulder. "I don't know what I feel for him."

"Well…what do you think you feel?"

"I feel scared. A little hopeful."

"So what's wrong with that?"

"I…don't want to get hurt again, Brandon. What _he_ did to me…it was inexcusable. I'm torn. Do I risk being hurt again, or do I just stay away?" She asked her brother, hopeful he would offer her a plausible solution. "What am I feeling? I don't love Robert anymore, but why do I still feel scared to take a chance on someone new?"

Brandon looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to form his thoughts into words. "Well…We feel love of all types. Romantic, familial, even deep down, you still can feel something for someone you don't talk to anymore. It can be frustrating figuring out which is which, because isn't love one of the strongest things you'll ever feel? How could we ever distinguish it? Love is all around us. In the air, the ocean, the sky, even in the flock of birds soaring above. I think it only matters that you _feel_ it, no matter the type, not try and bury it. I think you need to figure out for yourself what you're feeling, and only then you'll know what you want. You were always one to bury your emotions Lya. You can't keep doing that to yourself." He said, rubbing small circles into her shoulder, and Lyanna sniffed back tears, trying not to get her brother's shirt wet, and looked at her brother then, red nosed and teary, and gave a shaky laugh.

"When did you get so wise, Raisin Bran?" She teased, using his old childhood nickname, and Brandon rolled his eyes, smiling at the memory. He mussed up her hair in retaliation, grinning when she swatted at him, his dimples poking through.

"Oh ye of little faith. I've always been wise, you just never come to me for advice." His face goes serious then, giving her a stern look. "If you do get serious with this guy, and he hurts you, I'm kicking the shit out of him." Lyanna laughed, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking him in the eye.

"If Ashara breaks your heart, I'll kick her ass too." Brandon laughs heartily, shaking his head.

"There's my sister. Now go get me some pie, I'm hungry."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lyanna learns life lessons from Brandon. Not too much of Oberyn/Lyanna in this chapter (although the wheels are really going to start churning soon), but I hope you guys understand that I'm really trying to flesh out Lyanna and her other relationships before she jumps into another one head on.
> 
> Please review! It is very appreciated!


	6. Interlude: Tyene

_"Mother_

_You had me_

_but I never had you_

_I wanted you_

_You didn't want me,"_

_-Mother by John Lennon_

***

"I'm not sleepy."

"You have to sleep, Tyene, or you're going to be up all night."

"But you're always up all night!" Tyene whined, looking back at her father who was trying to brush out the tangles in her hair. He raises an eyebrow at her, warning her not to complain anymore and Tyene pouts, turning around again, tensing when her father starts to brush again. Thanksgiving dinner had been so much fun with her auntie Elia and Mellario, and uncle Doran and uncle Rhaegar had doted on her so much, and she got to play with her baby cousins Aegon and Quentyn, and she wanted nothing more than to run around with Rhaenys and Arianne more, but her father said it was time for bed and Auntie Elia said Aegon was tired and they should go. She was so tempted to throw a fit, but she didn't want a lecture so she decided on clinging to her uncle Doran's leg before they left, begging for them to stay. Uncle Doran chuckled, and bent down as gently as he could, wincing a little and put his bandaged hands on her cheeks. _"Why do you cry, little one? We see each other all the time don't we?"_

Tyene sighed sadly, moping when her father stopped brushing. He grabbed her tiny arms and pulled her towards him, getting her to giggle when he pulled her on top of his lap and gave raspberries all over her face. "Stop! Stop!" She laughed. Tyene hugged her father, digging her small face into his cozy orange sweater, the one Auntie Elia had made him for his birthday. She looked up at her father, who was staring down at her with a look Tyene really couldn't tell.

"Do you have to leave daddy?"

Oberyn looked at his young daughter, clad in her small blue and white pajamas, and brushed her hair out of her face. "You know I don't want to, Tyene. And we still have tomorrow."

"But you'll be gone for a whole week!" She whined.

"Darling, it's just four days. I'll be home before you know it. Don't you want to spend the night at Rhaenys' house?"

"Yeah…"

"Well then?"

"But I want to be with you! I don't want to leave our house!"

"Tyene…" He rubbed the scruff on his jaw, looking exasperated.

"Why can't we stay here? Can't Obara take care of me and Nym?"

"Obara is only eleven, Tyene. How will she make you dinner, or pack your lunch? I think it's time you went to sleep, okay?"

"But daddy-"

"No buts. It's time to sleep Tyene." He picks her up with ease, throwing back her covers and gently laying her in the comfy bed, bringing down her pillow and resting her head. Tyene looked up at her father, tugging her covers under her neck while she tried to think of a way she could get her daddy to stay home instead of on some stupid business trip. If she would have had school tomorrow, maybe she could have asked Ms. Stark-

"Oh!" Tyene gasped, sitting up as quick as she could and grabbing her father's rough hands, surprising him. "Daddy!"

"Hmm?"

"What if Ms. Stark came to look after us? She's really nice!" Oberyn opens his mouth in shock but composes himself, giving Tyene a stern look.

"Tyene, Ms. Stark is your teacher, not your babysitter."

"But she likes me! And I like her too! I promise I would be good for her!"

"Tyene, I'm sure Ms. Stark is a very busy woman-"

"What if she only took care of me? Obara and Nym don't have to come!"

"Tyene. Ms. Stark cannot take care of you. I'm sorry, but that's the truth. Now go to bed, sweetling." Tyene scrunched her face at her father then, upset that he shut her down so quickly. She had thought that her father liked Ms. Stark, and would allow Tyene to stay with her favorite teacher. As her father turned on the nightlight by her bed and closed the ceiling light, saying goodnight softly as he closed the door, Tyene turned over in her bed and thought about playing dolls with Ms. Stark, and watching their favorite movies, and Ms. Stark could read her favorite book to her in that slow, melodious voice that always picked up and slowed down with the action of the story, putting Tyene in a trance as she was transported into the world of the book. Tyene loved Auntie Elia and Auntie Mellario, but they were always busy with their own children and Obara and Nymeria always had demanded more attention anyways, so Tyene would be left to herself at times, when really, all she wanted was someone to pay attention to her individually, and Ms. Stark was that someone. Ms. Stark always took care of her cuts and bruises, and made sure she was feeling well, helped her with her schoolwork, played with her when no one else wanted to, and made Tyene laugh when she was feeling sad. Tyene felt her eyes well up with hot tears and they spilled across her fair cheeks, snuggling her face into her stuffed bear. She sniffled loudly as she continued to cry.

Because all Tyene _really_ wanted was a mother.

And Ms. Stark was the closest thing Tyene knew as a mother. She does all the things a mother was supposed to do. Tyene's own mother had left when she was born, according to Nymeria, because she just couldn't handle the stress of another child and had fallen in love with another man.

_"But why would she fall in love with someone else? Didn't she love daddy?" Tyene asked._

_"We thought she did, but I guess not."_

Tyene recalled all the numerous times she had met her father's friends and they would make offhand remarks that she looked so much like her mother, but then realize their mistake and apologize. She noticed that he always had his lips tight, and gave them a pained smile before shooing Tyene off to go play with someone for a few minutes. She wanted to know what her mother was like. Did she cook her sister's food as good as daddy's? Or did she sing them to sleep at night? It wasn't fair that they got to have her while Tyene never even got to meet her. But Tyene knew what mothers were supposed to do for their children, and Ms. Stark did all of those things too, so Tyene accepted her as family, so why would her father not let her stay with Ms. Stark?

"I'll never have a mommy," Tyene whispered to herself, wiping her tears away. A thought came to mind, and Tyene sat up immediately. She would ask Obara and Nymeria! Surely they would help her stay with Ms. Stark! Or, they can tell her about her real mom. She hopped out of bed, tripping on the covers and landing on her face on the plush carpet. Tyene groaned, but got up anyways, hoping her sisters were still awake. She opened up her door quietly, so as not to make a sound, and tip toed quietly. She could her hear father in his room, on the phone with someone, and he sounded a little aggravated. Tyene became curious and decided to go over to listen. She peaked through the crack in his door, watching her father pace around his room in anger, gritting his teeth as someone on the phone talked quickly.

"Doran, we have to do something about Lannister. He has too many connections and he could jeopardize Rhaegar's upcoming election." He was talking to Uncle Doran! Tyene became excited but quickly simmered down, noting how truly angry her father was at the moment and shrinking back in fear. He scratched his beard in agitation, his eyebrows furrowed with fury.

"Of course Tywin knows about Aerys' condition! How could he not, with his 'heir' a part of his security detailing? If he lets out that Rhaegar wants to take over office because of his father's ailment and inefficacy, the Targaryens are _done_. And so is our company." Uncle Doran talked quickly on the phone, making Oberyn's face scrunch with disgust. Tyene wondered what was so serious, and why were they talking about Uncle Rhaegar? He sighed a little, and sat down on his bed, putting his head into his hands, turning the speaker phone on.

"We promised Rhaegar and Elia that we would invest in his campaign." Uncle Doran's voice came out softly.

"I know, but at what cost Doran? Tywin Lannister is one of the biggest diamond harvesters known, and has his claws in everyone's backs. If he manages to throw Aerys' out of office before the elections, the Targaryen's political career is over. And we'll be done by association."

"The citizens trust Rhaegar. They like him, they much prefer him over his father. We have another year before the elections Oberyn, we could help him win. Not only will Aerys' be out of office legally, we could take this company to new heights, maybe internationally."

Tyene decided she had enough and didn't really care for what her father and uncle were talking about, and stalked off to find her sisters. She checked Nymeria's room first, opening the door slightly but saw that her older sister wasn't in her bed. Tyene then went to go check Obara's room, the door shut but she could see the lights were on inside, and two shadows walking around. She pressed her ear to the door, trying to eavesdrop.

"Wait, how did you find that out?" Obara whispered.

"I looked through his phone." Nymeria replied. Tyene furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, wondering what her sisters were discussing. She could hear Obara gasp.

"What! Dad will kill us!"

"We have a right to know Obara!"

"It's just a date, Nym, maybe he didn't want to tell us because it won't go anywhere, _like always_." Obara said, annoyance spreading through her tone.

"But this is with Ms. Stark! He likes her! _Like likes_ her!"

"Hold on for a minute." Suddenly the door was whipped open, and Tyene fell over into the threshold of Obara's room, her two sisters looking down at her with contempt. Tyene tried to smile at them, but Nymeria only snickered, shaking her head. Obara placed her hands on her hips, glaring down at Tyene.

"What are you doing brat?"

"I…"

"Were you trying to eavesdrop?" Nymeria said smirking. Tyene shook her head, fervently, her brown eyes going wide and hoping they wouldn't tell on her. Obara sighed and grabbed Tyene by the back of her shirt, lifting her up and dragging her to her bed, Nymeria closing the door swiftly and launching herself on to Obara's bed, landing gracefully and turning towards Tyene, who was lifted onto the bed and then crushed by Obara.

"Get off!" Tyene grunted but Obara only grinned.

"Nope! What were you doing outside of my room?" Tyene struggled to get out underneath her older sister.

"I wanted to know more about mommy." Tyene breathed out, crushed by her sister's frame, and both Nymeria and Obara froze, looking at each other and then her in shock. Obara scrambled off of Tyene and off the bed entirely, glaring at her.

"Why do you want to know about _her_?" Tyene shrunk back from the ferocity in Obara's tone. Nymeria clucked her tongue and threw a bear at her older sister, inviting Tyene into her arms and hugged her tight when she accepted.

"Don't scare her! She just wants to know about mom."

Obara shook her head angrily. "Tyene doesn't need to hear anything about her. You don't have a mother." She said to Tyene. Tyene burst into tears at her sister's cruel words, putting her head into Nymeria's lap, sobbing at the revelation.

"Why would you do that?" Nymeria whispered angrily.

"The sooner she knows it, the better."

"She's only five!"

"And you're only eight!"

"Almost nine!"

"It doesn't matter! None of us have a mother! Get used to it!" Obara whispered back bitterly, her face turning red, and Tyene shook her head. She didn't know what a bad idea it was to come here and talk about her mother to her sisters. Nymeria glared at Obara, grabbing Tyene's arms and helped her baby sister off the bed, not paying any attention to Obara who looked at them indifferently, and shut the door, escorting Tyene back to her room, making sure to hush her sister's tears while her father was still up. Oberyn would not be pleased to see that his daughters got into another fight, and especially at bedtime. She turned the light on in Tyene's room, escorting her through and shut the door, bringing Tyene back to her bed and tucking her in, Tyene's soft hiccups filling the room. Tyene looked at her older sister sadly, her eyes still teary and blonde hair becoming messy again.

"Why is Obara so mean?" She whispered, clutching onto her bear. Nymeria sighed, and crawled under the covers as well, giving a warm cuddle to Tyene.

"She's not mean, she's just…mad."

"Isn't that the same thing?" Tyene asked innocently.

"No…she just doesn't like talking about mommy."

"But why?"

"Because mommy left us. So she's mad at her for that."

"So I really _don't _have a mommy?" She asked sadly, and Nymeria shook her head.__

__"Someday we'll get a new one Tyene."_ _

__"Does Obara want a new one?"_ _

__"Maybe." There was a loud thud in the hallway, and both Nymeria and Tyene looked up, wondering if their father was going to walk in at any moment. When a few seconds passed, Nymeria turned towards Tyene, a mischievous glint twinkling in her eyes. "Wanna hear a secret?" She whispered, and Tyene nodded. She motioned for Tyene to come closer, and cupped her hand over her ear._ _

__"Daddy is going on a date with Ms. Stark." Tyene looked up confused._ _

__"What's a date?" Nymeria sighed._ _

__"You're so dumb. A date is what a boy and girl go on when they like each other."_ _

__"Well why do they do that?"_ _

__"So they can fall in love dummy!" Tyene's eyes became wide at the explanation, and sat up with excitement._ _

__"Daddy loves Ms. Stark?"_ _

__"Maybe. They have to go out first."_ _

__"Will they get married?"_ _

__"Maybe."_ _

__"Will Ms. Stark be our new mommy?"_ _

__"Maybe."_ _

__"I hope she is. I love Ms. Stark. She always puts pretty band aids on my paper cuts, and gives us hot chocolate on cold days, and good morning hugs and goodbye hugs, and-"_ _

__"Tyene we don't know if that will happen though." Nymeria giggled and Tyene pouted before jumping back into her questions._ _

__"Does daddy really like her?"_ _

__"He really, _really_ likes her." Nymeria grinned. Tyene smiled widely, but then became serious._ _

__"But what if they don't fall in love?" She said sadly. Tyene didn't think she could take it if her father and Ms. Stark didn't fall in love and live happily ever after. Nymeria shrugged._ _

__"Hopefully they will. You should go to bed, Tyene." Nymeria tucked in her little sister before crawling off her bed and going to close the light._ _

__"Wait!" Tyene exclaimed._ _

__"Yeah?"_ _

__"What if…what if daddy and Ms. Stark _do_ fall in love, but…she leaves like mommy did?" Now Tyene could see why Obara would be so mean. Tyene thought that she would be mean too if she had two mommies leave her._ _

__Nymeria shook her head. "No. I think Ms. Stark is too nice for that."_ _

__Tyene smiled a little at the affirmation. "Really?"_ _

__"Really."_ _

__"Okay. Night night Nym."_ _

__"Nighty night Tyene. Don't let the bed bugs bite." Nymeria closed off the light and shut Tyene's door, sneaking back into her own room before their father could find out his daughters were sneaking around the hallway. Tyene shuffled around in her bed, snuggling to find warmth in her covers and keeping her bear to her chest, and began to feel the slow tides of sleep overcome her._ _

__The promise that someday Ms. Stark might become her mother was what allowed sleep to fully envelope her._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I thought it would be nice if we saw something from Tyene, so this Interlude was born! Next chapter we'll get back to Lyanna.
> 
> I go back to college on monday, so my updates will most likely become more sporadic then they already are. I would really appreciate the patience as school obviously comes first!
> 
> Please leave a review!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm baaaaaack! I hope this chapter was worth the wait :P
> 
> First off, I'd like to thank you all for bearing with me as I go through school and work. It truly means a lot. Second, and most importantly, thank you for reading this little story of mine! It's so hard to believe that people actually like it.
> 
> So...what did you think? Leave a review please!

_"I'll put your poison in my veins_

_They say the best love is insane_

_I'll light your fire till my last day_

_I'll let your fields burn around me,"_

_-What You Wanted by OneRepublic_

***

"Give me a minute!" Lyanna called out to the knocking on her door, trying to poke her closing earholes with a sharp pair of earrings with a wince as she rushed around looking for her heels. She hadn't eaten all day after stuffing herself the previous night from the thanksgiving feast, and she was starving. Finally finding her nicer black heels, the ones she had roped Brandon into buying for her, she smoothed out the front of her dress and rushed to the mirror in her bathroom, ignoring the incessant buzzing of her door bell. She examined herself from the side, hoping she looked alright in her somewhat new turquoise blue dress. She had curled her hair earlier, and smoothed down any stray hairs. She retouched the dark pink lipstick she had on before throwing it in her purse and rushing to the door, grumbling about Oberyn's persistent knocking. She threw open the door and saw that Oberyn was dressed sharply, his form fitting slacks ironed neatly and his coat hanging on his arm. He gave her a grin as he openly looked her up and down, and Lyanna rolled her eyes, reaching for her coat off the hanger near the door and playfully shoved past him, pulling the door to a close and locking it. Lyanna smelled the faint putridness of the building and wrinkled her nose, half wishing she lived somewhere nicer.

"Shall we?" Oberyn asked, smiling down at her and putting his outerwear on. It wasn't extremely cold out, but it was still set to be a chilly November night, especially with December weather creeping up on them by the day. Lyanna nodded her head at him and led the way down the stairs, skipping the creaky broken step in the middle as delicately as she could, and winced when she heard Oberyn step loudly onto it. She braced herself for the cold wind as she put her jacket on, pushing the door to the building outside and gasping at the brisk air. Oberyn took her arm lightly and started to lead her out towards his jeep and Lyanna looked up towards the back of his head, a small scar running diagonally up his neck and disappearing into his hair. Lyanna wondered what it was from, and thought that she might ask him later. She quite liked the grip of his hand around her arm, it was a surprisingly gentle tug, instead of the force she was used to from Robert. When they reached his car, he opened the door for her, bowing obnoxiously as Lyanna snorted and shoved past him, both of them grinning at each other.

"So where are you taking me?" Lyanna asked playfully, putting on her seat belt as Oberyn climbed in. Oberyn shook his head at her and grinned, shoving his keys in and starting the engine, looking behind to make sure he was safe to start driving.

"It's a surprise." Lyanna rolled her eyes as he pulled out, speeding onto the main road and quickly turning onto the exit.

"You better be careful about speeding," Lyanna murmured. "My brother is a cop."

Oberyn grinned next to her, only slowing down slightly. "Is he a stickler for the rules?"

"Oh absolutely. He might even be on patrol tonight." Oberyn shook his head, finally slowing down to the speed limit, clearly not wanting to run into her older brother and make a bad impression. Lyanna chuckled quietly to herself, looking at out the window, watching the thick, dense trees pass by her and transition into the bright city lights of downtown. Lyanna sat up suddenly, as she hadn't been downtown since Ned and Catelyn's wedding, and it tended to be quite expensive, and she really couldn't afford an expensive night out on the town on a teacher's salary. She glanced towards Oberyn, who was tapping his fingers on the wheel along with the radio, and she smiled slightly. The silence between them in the car wasn't awkward at all, rather it was more comforting, being with someone who understood the beauty of unspoken moments.

Looking out the window once more, Lyanna was so caught up in the beauty of the skyline and all the lights that she didn't even notice Oberyn had parked. When she looked towards him, she found he had already left his seat and was coming over to her side. Excited, Lyanna unbuckled her seat belt and grabbed her purse, facing Oberyn when he opened the door, smirking at her and offering her a hand to get down, which she took gratefully.

"Downtown, huh? Don't you get tired of it here?" Lyanna said playfully, as they started to walk down the sidewalk, passing boys on guitars and a couple dancing to the acoustic music. Oberyn gave a short laugh, and shook his head, messing with his scarf. He looked down at her, his dark eyes probing hers, and smirked.

"Never. It's kind of comforting actually."

"Are you in your prime out here?"

"Hah! I'm in my prime wherever I go, it's just heightened in the city."Lyanna rolled her eyes while Oberyn grinned at her, both talking about mundane things as they walked on the sidewalk, the gentle snow blowing in their direction thanks to the wind, but it wasn't a nuisance for either of them. Eventually, they came to a stop at a towering building, and Lyanna's eyes widened in horror when she recognized the expensive restaurant.

"Holy shit. No. We're not going in." Oberyn gave her a look.

"I got reservations. Of course we're going in." Oberyn grabbed her arm gently and started to tug, but Lyanna resisted, putting more force into her weight and keeping herself rooted to the sidewalk. Oberyn looked at exasperated, narrowing his eyes at her in slight annoyance, but his lips were starting to tug to the side, mirth growing. Lyanna glowered at him as well, taking her arm back.

"This is too much, Oberyn, really. I've heard one plate is 70 dollars!"

"Well you heard wrong," He grinned. "They're more around 80."

Lyanna just started at him in shock, her mouth open. Oberyn shrugged then.

"Fine then. You can stay out here and I'll tell the host we're here."

"Listen, Oberyn there's other restaurants in the city-"

But he had already left her in the cold, opening the plated door and heading over to the host and speaking lowly with him. Lyanna would admit that she was curious to see the inside of the tower, but she knew that it was far too expensive, and she really didn't want Oberyn to go the trouble. Plus, Lyanna had a feeling it was one of those restaurants that fed their patrons those itsy-bitsy meals with drizzled sauce and a piece of lettuce on top, and Lyanna wrinkled her nose at the thought of such a tiny meal. She was used to big, hearty meals, growing up with three boys in the house. She saw Oberyn through the window, the slight crook at the top of nose becoming more prominent as his face slid into more confusion while talking with the waiter, and she stood on the tips of her toes trying to see what was going on. The host and Oberyn started to argue, and she could see the steam coming off of Oberyn's head, and Lyanna wondered what was wrong, and suddenly Oberyn was storming out, the host left scrambling after him but the door was shut in his face as Oberyn came closer with a strained smile on his face. It looked like it pained him, but Lyanna met him halfway, worry etched on her face.

"What happened?" She asked quietly, not wanting to set him off. Oberyn took a deep breath and smiled at her, his anger very slowly dissipating.

"Turns out they screwed up our reservations, that manager never put them in, so you go what you wanted after all."

"Oh I'm sorry, Oberyn. I hope I didn't jinx things for you." Lyanna did feel bad about his reservations; because she could see that he went to great lengths to get them.

"Nonsense. Now, what are we eating? We can do whatever you want." They both looked around for a minute, trying to see if there was anything close by to grab a bite. All of a sudden, a small ice cream shop came into view, and Lyanna's eyes widened with desire. She heard her stomach rumble a bit, and she looked towards Oberyn excitedly.

"Want some ice cream?"

"Christ, are you five? You don't want an actual meal?"

"Ice cream can easily become an actual meal." Lyanna countered, completely set on the cold treat.

"There's a diner that way…" He pointed to, but Lyanna shook her head no, and instead pointed to the ice cream shop.

"You said that we could do whatever I like, so that is what I choose." Lyanna said smugly. She knew she had caught Oberyn, and he looked towards her, trying to push off the smile creeping on his face.

"You sound like my children."

"Tyene is a very bad influence. Come on!" Lyanna laughed, and now she was the one leading Oberyn over, excited. She had a brief flashback to when she and Robert used to hang out at the local ice cream shops and loiter, feeding each other spoonful's of the cold dessert and Lyanna pouring the sticky milk on Robert's head for something offensive he said, laughing as she ran away from him. Lyanna broke out of her memory, saddened that she would remember Robert now as she was actively trying to move on, and looked back towards Oberyn, who was confused by her sudden change in mood. Lyanna shook her head that it was nothing. They entered the small shop quietly, noting the a few other couples and families sitting around the tables eating their desserts, and Oberyn offered to get both of their treats while she went to go hunt down a table.

"Anything in particular?"

"Surprise me."

Lyanna finally picked a table that wasn't covered in tiny spots of stickiness, instead she picked the one in the front of the window, with a clear view of the city and the lake everyone dubbed Across the Narrow Bay. Taking off her coat, Lyanna sat down a sigh, looking at a small family of three walking outside, the couple both holding the hands of their very young daughter. She smiled slightly at the sight, entranced with the giggling little girl, not noticing that Oberyn had taken his seat across from her, shedding his winter coat and revealing the burnt orange button down shirt that fit him well. Oberyn stared at Lyanna for a couple of moments, focusing on the small freckles that dotted her nose and cheeks, and then turning his attention to her dark locks, the ringlets starting to lose their hold and turning into their usual frizz once again, but Oberyn didn't mind. He thought it added to the spirit of Lyanna. Lyanna's beauty was unconventional, not like Tywin Lannister's daughter Cersei, or even his classically beautiful sister Elia. There was a hidden fire underneath Lyanna, a wildness he could see that possibly matched his own, and Oberyn stared at her more intensely. He scratched his chin, bothered by the sudden itch, and calmly put his hand down, pushing the cup of ice cream towards the woman in front of him, clearing his throat. Lyanna woke from her daydream, and turned towards him, her wintry grey eyes holding the power of storms as they locked with Oberyn's.

"I took the liberty of getting you a favorite of mine." Oberyn pushed the cup into her hands, and Lyanna looked down at the peachy colored sweet, just barely starting to melt.

"What is it?" Lyanna asked, and took a small bite, trying to discern the flavor on her tongue. "Is that peach?"

"Mango."

"Oh! It's very sweet, I like it."

"I thought you would."

They settled into a sort of silence, not knowing what else to say. Lyanna half hoped that this wouldn't be the end of the road, just because they had run out of things to say, but she scratched that out of her mind when Oberyn started to speak again.

"How was your holiday?"

"It was good. My brothers were assholes," Oberyn gave a loud laugh at that, and Lyanna grinned, pleased with herself. "But assholes who give brotherly love. How was yours?"

"It went fairly well. There was drama in the kitchen, but there always is in our house."

Lyanna chuckled. "Was that a part of why I saw you in the baking aisle?" Oberyn made a face and took a bite of his ice cream.

"Essentially, yes. Doran's wife wants us to eat healthier, and wanted to make a traditional cake from her homeland so all our kids could try it. I really just wanted pie," Oberyn grumbled, but then grinned when Lyanna started giggling.

"What's your family like?" Lyanna asked when she finally calmed down.

Oberyn shrugged and looked out the window, taking his time with his answer. He started to answer at one point, and then stopped and smiled. "I feel like you've already met most of my family." He said.

"But I don't know them."

"Well, as I'm sure you're aware, Elia is the sweetest woman alive. We were as thick as thieves growing up. She wasn't always so sweet though, she could really hit me if she wanted to," Lyanna smiled gently at his memory of his sister. "She was very sick though as a child, she still kind of is."

"What happened?" Her eyebrows furrowed in worry.

"We went swimming in this lake when we were young, I think I was about seven? If I was seven, Elia was eight…and Doran was around seventeen-eighteen then. Anyways, Elia caught some parasite, and she was so sick for such a long time. It caused her to be malnourished and underdeveloped for a long time." Oberyn sighed, toying with his copper watch on his wrist, the hands ticking away slowly.

"Wait, how did she catch the parasite?" Lyanna asked, confused.

"The lake we swam in was a very dirty lake, with a large number of roundworms. They think Elia might have accidently swallowed some of the lake water and that's how the parasite entered her body."

"Oh my gosh…"

"I was so angry though. I couldn't understand why she was so sick all of a sudden, and why she wouldn't play with me anymore. As children we don't really see all of the details or realize how much time we have left."

Lyanna wanted to press for more details, but she felt it wouldn't be right while Oberyn was remembering his sister this way. Lyanna didn't think she could look Elia in the eye anymore, knowing what she did now, but Lyanna pushed that out of her mind, because she had only known Elia to be a strong woman. A lightbulb went off in her head however, and she looked up at Oberyn with wide eyes.

"Is that how you started Water Gardens?"

"Excuse me?"

"Water Gardens. You and your brother started Water Gardens because of Elia, didn't you?" Lyanna said, and Oberyn grinned widely at her, his lips quirking to one side of his face, and he started to chuckle, pushing around the plastic spoon in his cup.

"Tyene wasn't lying when she said you were smart," Oberyn smirked, and the tension between the two increased ten-fold, both leaning in slightly. Lyanna stared at his lips before moving her eyes upward to his own black eyes, in awe of the intensity swirling within them. "And yes," He whispered, his sweet breath blowing across Lyanna's face. "We started the company because of Elia."

Suddenly uncomfortable with the position she was in, Lyanna sat straight up again, not looking at Oberyn, who cleared his throat and caught off guard by her nervousness, stood up.

"Let's get some air."

***

"Tell me about your brothers," Oberyn said, leaning on the dock of the Narrow Bay, staring out towards the distance. Lyanna shrugged, and shrank farther down into her winter coat, hiding her face from the sudden arctic blast as they faced the water.

"Which one?"

"How about your eldest brother?" He offered.

"Brandon? Well…He's a lawyer, a pretty good one I'll say. He's a big charmer so it's no wonder he's so successful in his career." Lyanna boasted. "He's also a real pain in the ass." Oberyn snickered.

"And then there's Ned. His real name is Eddard, but I could never say it when I was little, so I just used to call him Ned. He's so quiet, but he's the smartest out of the four of us. Always stands up for the truth, no matter how much it may cost him." Lyanna said, and her voice dropped some. "He's my favorite." She whispered quietly, remembering all the things her brother did to keep her safe, and that his oldest friendship was gone because of her.

"And you've already met Benjen," She reminded him, nudging his shoulder and he chuckled.

"He seemed very excited. Does he have any plans after he graduates?"

"He wants to apply for this park ranger position up north. We looked more into it this morning, and the park actually partners with a lot of conservation groups in the government." Oberyn bobbed his head to this, deep in thought.

"Well, if he's interested, he could always email me about a small internship we have. It's mostly just paperwork, but he would also work hands on with our developing filters. He could even work on a freshwater lake filter for more experience." Lyanna turned towards Oberyn in shock at the offer, but he was casually looking towards the few boats on the harbor, leaning on the fence and waiting for nothing.

"Oberyn…are you serious? That's a huge deal!"

"Well why not? He knows his stuff, and if he's really passionate about clean-up efforts, Water Gardens is a great place for some start up experience." He shrugged. Lyanna couldn't believe he was being so nonchalant about this. In fact, she couldn't even believe he was offering her little brother an internship in the first place.

"Oberyn…I can't thank you enough for this offer. Ben will be thrilled." Oberyn looked towards her finally, standing up straight and towering over her. He stepped a little closer to her, and Lyanna took a step back, bumping into the wooden fence of the dock, flushed with the cold and desire. Oberyn leaned in closer to her face, and Lyanna instinctively stood on the tips of her toes. When they were finally eye level, Oberyn breathed in the air around them, and Lyanna closed her eyes, fluttering them shut. He whispered in her face. "I'll admit that I'm not very concerned for your brother's happiness at the moment." He breathed. Lyanna opened her eyes, still hooded from the proximity of it all, and the deepening desire that was building up in the pit of her stomach. She could feel the electricity between them, the closer they got, the more it sparked.

"Whose happiness are you concerned for?" She whispered very softly, but she already knew the answer.

"Yours." And with that, Oberyn captured Lyanna's lips in a soft, passionate kiss. It was somewhat unstable, and Lyanna had to tilt her head some and stretch more to be closer to him, but Oberyn wrapped her arms around her waist, holding her as close to him as he could as he deepened the kiss, moaning softly as she granted him more access. Lyanna's arm wrapped around his neck while one went to thread itself into his messy hair. She groaned as she ended the kiss, but immediately went back for another one, deepening it even further, and tasting the sweet flavor of mango on his lips smooth lips. Oberyn's hand started to reach a little further south, grabbing a handful of her bottom as she gasped suddenly, but he took the chance to further the kiss, the warmth of his mouth sending a current running through her body.

"Get a room!" Lyanna heard a teenage boy yell, and the subsequent laughter of his friends. Oberyn growled 'piss off' and went to kiss her again, but Lyanna stopped him, thinking the moment had been ruined.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Oberyn grasped her face very gently between the palms of his hands, forcing her to look him in the eye.

"I-it's nothing, really."

"Lyanna, who cares about those horny kids-"

"Come back to my place." Lyanna said, flushing as soon as the words left her mouth. Oberyn looked shocked, his eyes widening . "I mean, if you want to…I just thought…"

"Lyanna…"

"No it's okay! I…I just got carried away, I'm sorry." Lyanna apologized profusely, kicking herself on the inside.

"No Lyanna it's not that, I'm actually very flattered. It's just that I have to fly out for a business meeting tomorrow morning, and I promised the girls I would wake them up in the morning."

"Oh. Okay."

Oberyn started to lean in closer again, his voice dropping down to a mumble. "That doesn't have to stop us though." His voice came out gruff with desire, and Lyanna could feel the tension running through her again as he captured her lips once again, standing in the dark night with only the glimmer of the water and the stars illuminating them in another kiss.

***

Lyanna was still smiling about Friday night while on lunch break Monday afternoon. She had replayed the date with Oberyn all weekend, and when his sister came to drop Tyene off that morning, she had to shake herself out of seeing Oberyn's face on Elia's head. Instead she smiled brightly at Tyene, asking her what she did for Thanksgiving. Tyene was enthusiastic in her response, pulling Lyanna away from her aunt and excitedly telling her about her family and baby cousins. Tyene then slyly asked how her break had been, and Lyanna tried to stop herself from blushing and composed herself, but Tyene had giggled and bounded off, jumping on top of her friends. Lyanna broke out of her reverie, laughing slightly as she pulled up her iTunes, wanting to distract herself from the memory of Oberyn's warm lips so she could get caught up on her grading. Progress reports were due by Wednesday, and Lyanna hadn't graded anything since two weeks before. When she pulled up some movie soundtrack, she finally got down to grading, working into a groove and taking small bites out of the leftover turkey from thanksgiving dinner. She was pleased with her students' progress, and was just about to pull out the A+ stickers when she heard an incessant knocking on her door.

"Ms. Stark? Are you in there?" Lyanna looked up at the voice and furrowed her eyebrows. They certainly didn't sound like one of her students who should have been at lunch, and their voice was too scared to sound like a teacher. The knocking continued, becoming more panicked with each rap. Getting up with a groan, Lyanna walked over to her door and opened it, surprised to find a teary Obara looking up at her.

"Obara?" What-" Obara didn't give Lyanna time to finish her question and instead rushed into her classroom, pacing furiously and tearing up even more, playing with the arms of her sweater tied around her waist. Lyanna sensed there was something serious going on and closed her door, locking it from the inside to give her and Oberyn's eldest daughter privacy. When Lyanna looked back at Obara, she finally burst into tears, choking on her sobs.

"Hey, hey it's okay. Shh it's okay Obara," Lyanna whispered, coming over to stand in front. She pulled Obara to her desk, gently pushing her to sit down in her chair and kneeled down to eye level with her, grabbing the arms of her chair while Obara tried to stop hiccupping. "What's going on Obara?" Lyanna asked gently. Obara looked at her, surprised at how tender Ms. Stark became with her, and started to tear up again.

"I…" Obara gulps and starts to whimper again. "I'm bleeding," She whispers as quietly as she could.

"Bleeding? Where?" But as soon as Lyanna asked, she understood what Obara meant. "Obara…are you bleeding…somewhere private?" Obara nodded yes and put her face into her hands, crying again.

"Am I gonna die? There's a lot." She lamented and Lyanna shook her head and guided the girl to her desk, sitting Obara down in her comfy chair as she perched herself on the edge of her desk.

"No, no you're not going to die sweetheart, this is normal." Obara gave her a skeptical glare, and she wondered whether Obara even knew what a period was. "Obara, do you know what a period is?" She shook her head no, and Lyanna sighed. She knew Oberyn was a good father, but he might not have thought how he was going to deal to with his daughter's cycles. Lyanna never thought she would have to give a student a puberty talk, and tried to find the right words as Obara stared at her.

"Okay, well…your body is going through a lot of changes right now. Do you know where you are bleeding from?" Obara nodded and pointed, Lyanna breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't have to explain genitalia. "Okay. Well, everybody when they are your age goes through something called puberty. It's when your body is changing from a kid to an adult."

"So I'm an adult now?"

"Kind of. Puberty takes a few years. So when a girl goes through puberty, they start to bleed from their privates, and that's called a period. It's what you're having right now." Lyanna cringed at how awkward the conversation was, but it needed to be done.

"But why? And why does it hurt?"

"Do you know what a uterus is Obara?" She shook her head no. "It's a sac where babies are held before they are born. Every month, you release an egg from an ovary, and that egg waits in your uterus to be fertilized."

"Fertilized by what?"

"Umm…a boy's egg. Those are called sperm." Lyanna was starting to become very uncomfortable with the conversation, flustered with the amount of detail she was going into.

"I'm really confused." Lyanna decided to end the conversation there, and wanted to get Obara cleaned up.

"You know what, I'll explain in a little bit. Let's get you cleaned up okay, I'll teach you how to take care of this so you can do it by yourself later." Obara nodded, and Lyanna reached into her purse, finding a tampon. _She might be a little uncomfortable with this…_ Lyanna thought, and decided on a pad instead. She ushered the girl into the small restroom and urged her to pull her pants down, but was met with resistance. "Obara, I need to show you how to clean up." Lyanna pleaded. "Do you happen to have any spare undies? Maybe in your bag?" Obara shook her head and crossed her arms in defiance. Lyanna sighed, and ran her hand through her hair, wondering what to do. She kneeled down again, looking up Obara, who was getting more frustrated by the minute.

"Obara," She said. "Obara. What I'm showing you is _necessary_. I know you're scared, I was too when I got mine."

Obara was surprised at this. "You had one too?"

"Of course. I told you every girl gets one. Sometimes I'm still caught off guard by them." Obara does a double take and widens her eyes.

"Wait, you _still_ get them?" Lyanna nodded.

"Women have them for a long time. You bleed for a few days once a month, and then you're done. And then you wait until next month."

"I'll get this _every month?_ " Obara said sadly. It was the most emotion Lyanna had seen out of the eldest Martell daughter. Obara usually looked forlorn whenever Lyanna saw her, her eyebrows crossed to show her agitation. She started to cry again and Lyanna wasn't sure what to do. She could handle young children, but girls on the brink of being a teenager? Lyanna had already had her turn, and she was thankful for that.

"Hey it's not going to be too bad. Honestly, it'll be okay. Is your stomach hurting?" Lyanna asked, and Obara nodded. Lyanna had finally managed to get the girl to unbutton her pants, and showed Obara how to clean herself up, and taught her how to stick the pad on. When she was finally cleaned up, Lyanna went outside to see that bell was going to ring in five minutes, and she would have to go escort her class outside. Rummaging through her purse, she found her bottle of midol and clutched it tightly, looking out the window. "I'll have to take you to the nurse, Obara." Lyanna said nonchalantly, putting some old receipts back, and she didn't notice that Oberyn's note from when the two of them went out for coffee fall to the floor. A shadow appeared next to Lyanna and bent down to pick it up, recognizing the messy scrawl looping across the ripped page. Lyanna continued to chatter, unknowing that Obara wasn't paying attention as she handed the packet of midol to her without looking.

"I'm not going to the nurse." Obara muttered, clutching the note in her hand.

"I'm not allowed to give you the medicine without an authority knowing, and Nurse Mordane is really nice once you get to know her-"

"I'm. Not. Going." The girl growled now, and Lyanna turned, perplexed at the sudden mood change.

"Obara, you really should see the nurse now, she might have some extra undies-"

"I won't go!"

"Obara, I'm trying to help you."

"No you're not! You're only trying to help yourself!" Obara pointed a finger at her, and slammed her father's note on Lyanna's desk. Flustered at the sudden accusations, Lyanna started to blush.

"Obara, that has nothing to do with this."

"Stop lying! You're only helping me so you can get closer to my dad!"

"What? Obara, your father had nothing to do with me helping you." Lyanna started to become stern with the student in front of her, her voice becoming terse.

"That's what they all say. Forget it." Obara gathered her things and paced to the door, sniffing. Lyanna walked a little faster and blocked the girl, becoming agitated at the accusations the young girl threw her way.

"I will not be talked to like this, young lady."

"Whatever." Obara tried to open the door, but Lyanna stopped it from moving open, prompting Obara to look up at the object of her father's affections with hate, glaring at her with stone black eyes.

Surprised at the amount of loathing coming off the girl, Lyanna softened her tone. "Obara, I need an explanation. What happened just now?" Obara refused to look her in the eye, crossing her arms and looking towards the cubby that held her baby sister's things while her nose turned red from all her crying earlier.

"All anyone says is how nice you are, and how cool you are, and how pretty you are, and blah blah blah," Obara ranted. She looked towards the ground when her voice quieted. "I thought I might be wrong about you, that maybe everyone was right. I thought you could help me when I saw all that blood, because all Tyene talks about is how helpful you are." Then, Obara looked towards Lyanna's surprised face then, narrowing her eyes and sneering. "But I was right. You're just like all the other women Dad brings home. You'll only help his daughters when it makes you look good."

Lyanna's mouth opened in shock as Obara pushed past her and threw open the door, throwing the packet of midol at Lyanna's feet and running down the hallway. Lyanna didn't try to stop her, as all she could do was sit down in shock and think about the words Oberyn Martell's oldest daughter spat at her just seconds ago. She started to breathe heavy and her hand raised shakily to cover her mouth, tearing up at the harshness. Lyanna chocked back a sob as she reached for her water bottle, and as soon as the cold liquid went down her throat, the bell rang, signaling the end of her class's lunch period and that she would have to escort them down to recess.

Pulling herself together, wiping the tears that had pooled in the corners of her eyes, Lyanna stood up and started to walk briskly towards the cafeteria, ignoring some of the teachers who waved hello. All Lyanna could think was Obara really so embittered towards her that she would say such cruel things, and then her mind veered off to how many women Oberyn might have brought home. Did he keep them around for a long time, or would he string them along for the ride?

Lyanna couldn't think about it for long, as she had reached the cafeteria without realizing, and a group of her students had surrounded her legs all of a sudden, beaming up at her with sticky fingers and jam filled smiles, and she smiled back down hesitatingly. A couple of students had requested to hold her hands as she escorted them down to recess, but Lyanna couldn't process the tiny warm hands grasping at her fingers all the way down to the playground. When she looked at the two small children guiding her down the hallway, all she could see was just two blurs, scurrying away with the promise of freedom and fun and laughter.

With the burst of sunlight streaming through the glass doors, her students ran from her and out the doorway, leaving Lyanna standing still in the hallway, looking towards the white light coming in. She wondered why she felt so affected at Obara's words, she was only a child after all, but Lyanna knew better then to blame a poor girl so affected by her feelings. But Lyanna also didn't know why the Martell girl took out her anger on her, when she was only a bystander. _Well, not really._ She thought. _Maybe she just doesn't like all these women in her father's life. Maybe she thinks I'm a whore digging for money._ It was that thought that finally broke Lyanna, as she dissolved into tears, silently choking on sobs that racked her body as she leaned her face and body into a wall.

"Ms. Stark?" A voice behind her called quietly. Lyanna turned, suddenly dizzy, and saw the blonde hair before she heard the voice. "Are you okay?" Tyene asked, her big eyes solemn.

"Of course I am Tyene." But Lyanna's voice shook, still caught off guard from her interaction with Obara and tried to wipe her tears quickly, but the little girl saw right through her, and Tyene simply said nothing, only walking over to her teacher and hugging her legs. Lyanna was surprised, wondering why her student would try to make her feel better, but through the clouded haze of her mind she was reminded that this was Tyene, one of the kindest children she had taught, and bent down slowly to hug the girl. It was awkward, but it made Lyanna feel much better.

"What's wrong Ms. Stark?" Tyene said.

"I'm not feeling very good Tyene."

"Does your tummy hurt?"

"Yea. It hurts a lot. Go outside and play, Tyene."

"Okay." Lyanna watched the girl bound away before turning briskly and walking back to her room, feeling sicker by the moment. She knows what her friends would say to her, that iron willed Lyanna had let herself go, and lets children's harsh words bring her to tears. But they had not gone through what she had gone through, witnessing her mother die, the depression that stalks her, and the man who betrayed her. Lyanna felt she had no iron left, and whatever little had grown over time, had been mined out of her in seconds. Lyanna was tired, tired of life and all of its tribulations, and she felt it would be best to go home and rest her mind. She wouldn't be a very good teacher if she didn't follow her own advice. Stopping by the front office, she saw Principle Arryn talking with the secretary, and he turned and smiled at her. Tall and lean, Jon Arryn was an educated man in his sixties, and still ran all over town like a horse. He had actually taught the Stark children when they were in high school, and recently took over a couple of years before Lyanna was hired. He had been like a second father to all of them, especially to Ned as his academic advisor.

"Ms. Stark! How are you? Don't tell me the gloominess of winter has finally affected you?"

"Mr. Arryn, I'm not feeling too good right now, I think I might be coming down with something. Mind if I go home early?" Principle Arryn looked a little troubled, but ultimately agreed and reminded her to take some medicine when she arrived back home. With the principle's blessing and his promise to make an arrangement for a substitute, Lyanna booked it. She rushed back to her room, and threw on her coat, juggling her keys and phone in her hand while she threw everything back into her purse, even the forgotten midol on the floor. When she had everything, she ran back out into the hallway and out the door, weaving around cars to get to her own, and when she finally opened hers, she sat down with a heavy flop, and sighed.

"Look at me," She muttered, jamming her keys to start up the engine. "Running away from my problems, once again." Driving out of the parking lot, Lyanna sped up a little by the time she got on the main road, and since there was hardly anyone on the road, booked it. All that remained in her head were the thoughts of Oberyn bringing girl after girl home, and she wondered if she was just another string he was tying along. Lyanna's face hardened at the thought, and she gritted her teeth, refusing to be strung along once more, only to be thrown to the side again.

When she finally reached her apartment building, Lyanna grabbed her things and slammed her car door angrily, stomping to the main door and punching in her code, throwing the door open. She didn't bother checking her mail, and instead went up the stairs, hitting the creaky step loudly, and muttering all the way up. Lyanna's anger had finally boiled her blood, because how could Oberyn play her like this? After she told him why she was so hesitant to go out with men? And how could Obara make such baseless accusations against her? Lyanna understood that the girl was just angry and didn't really understand what she was saying, but that didn't mean Lyanna couldn't become angry. When she finally reached the steps to her floor, she stepped off with a heavy sigh, rummaging for her keys and trying to find the right one.

"Lyanna…" Someone whispered, and she looked up in shock to see someone in front of her, cradling the blue winter roses she loved so much gently in their hands, the stag tattoo just barely showing out of the thin button down shirt he was wearing, and the hint of a scruff coming back on his face, his skin now back to the normal paleness instead of the sallow yellow color that filled his cheeks.

Robert Baratheon.


	8. Chapter 8

_You watch me bleed until I can't breathe_

_I'm shaking, falling onto my knees_

_And now that I'm without your kisses_

_I'll be needing stitches,_

_-Stitches by Shawn Mendes_

***

Oberyn sank into the lofty bed in his hotel room as soon as he entered. He groaned at the downy softness of the bedding, and spread his hands out above him so he was hanging off of both sides of the bed. His phone buzzed incessantly in his pocket and he groaned once again, annoyed that someone would call him as soon as he got off of work in a new city. He kicked off his shoes with some effort, and he could feel the knots accumulating in his back. His phone rang once again as he stretched out like a cat, yawning widely and grabbing the pillow next to him, placing it under his head and closing his eyes, trying to ignore the buzz in his pocket for some much needed sleep. He barely slept last night, worry for his girls kept crossing his mind, and his brother-in-law Rhaegar’s neediness for support in his upcoming campaign was starting to wear him down. Mostly he thought about how soft Lyanna’s lips were when he kissed them on Saturday. The wide smile that overtook her face. The glint in her mist colored eyes. He ran his thumb over the pillow underneath his head, closing his eyes and imaging he was gently stroking her clear wintry skin. A brief, gentle smile appeared on his face before it was replaced by a scowl.

_This. Damn. Phone._

With half a mind to just throw it at a wall, he dug out it with a vengeance. When he saw that it was Elia, his anger dissipated and was replaced with amusement. _Of course she’ll call now,_ he chuckled. Swiping the screen and ready to greet his sister, he was shocked at the pure rage coming at him from the phone. 

“Why didn’t you answer my call?” 

Oberyn sat up then, sitting with his legs crossed as he stared at the large wall of glass, shielding him from the city below. “Good evening to you too,” He grumbled, taking off his socks, moaning slightly from the slight respite of removing them, and massaged his feet slowly, grimacing. 

“Do you have any idea of how disrespectful Obara has become?” 

“What?” This was a surprise to him. Obara was a usually shy child with a temper, but she was not a disrespectful one, he had made sure of that. He wondered if Nymeria had once again managed to prank his older daughter and she had finally had enough. “Did Nymeria pull another trick on her?” He chuckled.

“No Oberyn. She did not. Obara has been talking back to her teachers.” 

“Wait. Are you serious?” Now Elia had her brother’s full attention. “Obara? What did she say?”

“Open your email. Now.” Elia’s curt voice cut through, and Oberyn reached over behind him, lying on his stomach to reach for his mac book. He could hear Aegon crying and his sister trying to sooth his as best as she could. A soft, deep voice cut through in the background, trying to relieve the baby’s cries. A soft sigh was heard, and a quiet “Thank you Rhaegaer,” was whispered. He breathed hard as his computer breathed to life, wishing he didn’t have to hear the clear love in his sister’s voice. His email finally opened, and he saw that his sister had emailed him a document, a hand written note scanned from her printer. He realized that the note was from Mr. Lannister, Obara’s teacher. He scowled of course, because it was from a Lannister, and there was a small part of him that thought Obara’s teacher was just nit picking, but as he read the letter, he grew more and more shocked at what Obara had done. 

“Obara _pushed_ someone to the ground? And then yelled at her teacher?” He said, slowly, trying to breathe through the anger he was starting to experience. There was no way this could be made up, even by a Lannister. Oberyn was _furious_ that his daughter could do something like this, and he vowed that Obara would forever be sorry that she forgot the values he tried to instill in her. 

“I talked to her too Oberyn.”

“And just what the hell did she say?” He growled. 

“That she felt bad-”

“Of course she did,” He muttered, still in disbelief.

“But she confessed something too.”

“Okay…”

“Oberyn…she yelled at Lyanna…” In that moment, you could a pin drop in Oberyn’s hotel room. He felt such a variety of emotions that he wasn’t sure about how he could ever face Lyanna again. He felt so _humiliated by his daughter’s actions,_ he closed his eyes tightly, shutting out his sister’s voice coming from the phone. “…but Oberyn, Obara had gotten her first period at school, and I think that probably contributed to her freak out. I mean she came home and cried so much-”

“Obara got her period? Holy shit. I didn’t…” Oberyn laid back onto his pillow again, shocked. “…I didn’t even _mention_ to her about puberty.” He closed his eyes again, his fury starting to dissipate a little. He was still disappointed in his daughter’s actions, but he was understanding a little bit of what had transpired. Mostly he was disappointed in himself for failing to teach his daughter about what she would have to go through. 

Elia was still rambling on the phone. “And apparently she found out that you and Lyanna had gone out before from a note you had written to Lyanna that fell out of her purse, and it just made her angry that you keep going out with a lot of women, and honestly I think she never recovered from her so called mother leaving-”  
Oberyn slapped a hand onto his forehead, rubbing it hard, and then moving to scratch his beard. He tried to cut off of his sister’s rambles, because the more he heard, the more he realized how shitty he’s been.

“Jesus,” He mumbled, defeated. Elia went quiet on the other side, waiting for her brother to continue. “I’m such a shitty dad.” 

“You’re not a shitty-”

“Oh come on Elia!” He yelled, quieting her again. “I couldn’t even keep my pants on to prepare my daughter for puberty! She must have been fucking traumatized.” He rubbed his forehead again, trying to rub away any tears starting to form in his eyes. “I couldn’t even talk to her about her mom. I just started sleeping with women to make the pain go away…”

“Oberyn…” Elia’s voice breathed gently into the phone, and he wanted to wrap himself in his big sister’s warm arms again and sleep with her like when they were children. Oberyn breathed in deeply, trying to push down the emotions threatening to expel out of his body.

“Elia, I’m sorry.” He rasped and shut off his phone, repeating the sounds of his sister begging him to stay on the call with him. He threw down his phone onto the ground, listening to it start to ring again, no doubt his sister calling to try and put some sense in him. Oberyn took off his shirt then, his joints cracking with more pressure, and turned his body to the all glass window, his eyes barely keeping up with the lights of the city. He could feel his mouth slacking off to one side and closed his eyes gently.

“I’m so tired,” He rasped, to no one.

Thoughts of Lyanna streamed through his mind, which then turned into thoughts of the mother of his children.

Oberyn fell back onto the downy hotel bed, struggling to remove his dress pants. When the offending material was finally off of him, he curled up into a pillow and breathed in the scent of lavender deeply.

“I’m so tired.”

***

_I’m so tired._

Lyanna stared at Robert with a blank stare, her natural pout becoming more pronounced as her frown deepened. He stared back at her hopefully, stretching the flowers her way, trying to nudge her to take it. Lyanna could feel her eyes starting to water with fury, shaking her head angrily as she started to shake and tried to look anywhere but in front of her.

“Lya…” Robert whispered.

“Stop!” Lyanna picked up her keys in frustration, the water in her eyes blurring her vision as she desperately searched for the right key and jammed it into her door. 

“Lya, just let me talk to you for a few minutes, that’s all I want.”

“And what about what I want Robert?” Lyanna accused, whipping her head towards him as she tried to jiggle open her door. “I want to move on, I don’t want to see your face again, I just want to go to bed right now!” She growled, pushing her weight against her door a final time, the door falling open suddenly and she almost fell to the ground, if Robert hadn’t been there to catch her waist. Lyanna would admit that he looked genuinely concerned for her then, but then became concerned about his hot hands holding her stomach.

“Get off!” She muttered, picking herself up from his embrace. 

“Lyanna, all I’m asking is a few minutes of your time. _Please._ ” Robert begged. Lyanna stepped inside her doorway, ready to slam the door in Robert’s face, when she saw some of her neighbor’s peeking out of the their doorways to see what commotion was going on. A hot flush covered Lyanna’s cheeks, staining her cheeks a bitter pink and she reluctantly motioned for Robert to come inside. He looked surprised, and he stepped inside slowly, staring at her the entire time. Lyanna breathed heavily as he side stepped her, getting a whiff of his musky odor and shut the door quickly. As he stared around her small apartment, she rested her back against the door, exhausted and staring at her ex with dull eyes. She muttered to herself about being manipulated into bringing him inside, but tried to stand a little straighter. 

Robert placed the roses gently on the scrapped coffee table and turned towards her slowly, as if she were a skittish doe. She narrowed her eyes at him as he tried to move towards her, trying to lean herself against the door again. Robert sighed heavily, looking down at the floor as he started to gesture his hands wildly. Lyanna could see that his mouth was moving, but no words came out. He looked up at her suddenly then, and Robert’s eyes had become a garden of tears, and his large nose became red at the tip, reminding Lyanna of all the times he became sick, and begged her to take care of him. She used to make him warm tomato and basil soup, with dashes of sugar for his sweet tooth and wrap herself in warm, downy white and grey sherpa blankets on the chair next to their bed so she could watch over him while he slept peacefully. Overwhelmed, she turned her face away from him, trying desperately to push the memories out of her mind. Crossing her arms tightly against her chest, Lyanna coughed deep from in her chest.

“Just say what you need to,” She said hoarsely, blinking back tears.

“…I’m so sorry Lyanna.” Robert whispered, and Lyanna could hear the sobs trying to escape him. “I know what I did was wrong…but I can’t stand not hearing your voice in the dead of night, asking if I’m awake. I can’t stand that you’re not there in the morning, pouring yourself sweet cream coffee and humming your favorite songs. I can’t stand not being able to touch your skin and feel at peace,” Robert rambled, his face getting redder as he went on, his gestures becoming wilder. He tried to move closer to Lyanna in desperation, but she moved around him and near her couch, keeping a safe distance around him. 

“Y-you should leave. Now.” Lyanna said shakily. 

“Lya, please hear me out-” Robert said.

“NO! All I’ve done is hear you out! I _have_ listened to you! I’ve listened to you all this time, and you have never once listened to me!” Lyanna screamed, tears forming in her eyes. Her face became bloated with anger, as her cheeks swelled red and her eyes glassy with tears. In a fit, she stomped the floor with her foot, wanting to break something. She pointed a finger to her chest, glaring at Robert. “We have been over this! You had a _child_ , Robert! You’ve slept with God knows how many other women behind my back! Some of them might have your children as well!” She yelled. “How many children do you have, Robert? Two? Four?”

Robert’s face grew red with anger as he clenched his jaw, the scruff of his beard standing up due to goosebumps. “Mya is my only child, and she was a mistake.” 

“Mya is not a mistake, Robert.” Lyanna snarled, wiping away tears. “You sleeping with her mother was not a mistake you made. Your dick didn’t just accidentally fall into her vagina! If you want to talk about mistakes, dating you was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made!” 

“Oh, really? I’m your biggest mistake? Not saving your mother's life didn’t make the list?” Robert sneered back in retaliation, but then he realized the weight of his words. Both their eyes went wide at what he said, and Lyanna’s jaw dropped at the callousness Robert showed. “Lya, oh my God, I didn’t mean it-”

“Get the hell out.” 

“Lyanna, I’m so sorry, I was angry-”

“Enough. You’ve shown your true colors a long time ago. Please get out.” Lyanna whole’s body started to tremor.

“Lya-”

“ _GET OUT! GET OUT NOW! LEAVE!_ ” Lyanna screamed, the sobs getting caught in her throat. Robert looked at her sadly as she started to wail, and when he still wouldn’t leave, Lyanna took a throw pillow from her couch and threw it at him, hitting him in the chest. “ _LEAVE! LEAVE ME ALONE!_ ” It took another thrown pillow to finally make him leave, taking a long sad look at her as he fled her apartment. Lyanna could still hear his heavy footsteps running down the stairs outside as she wailed loudly in misery. Falling to the floor, and half blind from the tears that had overtaken her face, she cried loudly as she desperately for her phone. Realizing it was in her pocket, she wiped tears away as she struggled to text someone. 

_Bring the hardest liquor you have now. –Lyanna_

_Lya? What’s up sis, it’s only Monday lol. –Brandon_

_Please. I need to be drunk and miserable. –Lyanna_

Ignoring Brandon’s last text and throwing her phone far away from her, Lyanna leaned back on the couch, sobbing. 

_What have you done to me?_

***

The vigorous rapping on Oberyn’s door woke him with a start. Groaning, he groped the bed for his phone, hoping to see he had slept in. When he finally found it underneath his pillow, he brought it close to his face hoping to see he had slept in. Instead, the phone read 7:30 AM. “For fuck’s sake,” Oberyn growled, pulling a pillow over his head and trying to bury himself within the blankets and ignore the continuous knocking. The knocking continued however, and grew more urgent with the minute. Growing angrier with the knocking, Oberyn tore the alarm clock from the desk next to him out from its plug and threw it at the door, hearing it break upon impact and the knocking finally stopped. Oberyn sighed with relief then, turning over on to his back and closing his eyes gently, happy for the peace. A sudden buzz from his phone woke him then, ruining his chances to get some sleep. 

_Does it matter getting sleep when such a pressing matter presents itself at your front door? -Unknown number_

“What the hell?” Oberyn said, rubbing his eyes until they hurt. He looked out the huge glass window of his hotel room and saw that it was barely sunrise, streaks of orange and pink starting to appear in the sky. Oberyn made a low whine in his throat at the thought of having to get up and confront some psychopath this early in the morning. “There better be a very reasonable explanation behind this shit.” Scratching his beard, he rose out of bed gently, not bothering to put on a shirt or look decent. When he reached his door, Oberyn looked out of the peephole to see a bald head staring at him. The man was covered in a brown robes, reminiscent of gregorian monks from centuries past, and a rosemary in his hands. The hairs on the back of Oberyn’s neck rose up as he hissed in recognition, and opened the door in a flurry.

“What the hell are you doing here Varys?” Oberyn accused. The plump man turned around, smirking. 

“One shouldn’t be surprised to see me when there are secrets hiding, Red Viper.”

“One shouldn’t surprise another when dressed like a Catholic Monk, _Spider_.” He hissed back. Varys simply pushed past Oberyn into his hotel room. When he looked back at Oberyn who was staring at incredulously, he simply shrugged. 

“Close the door, we don’t want anyone hearing.” He said. Varys started to go through Oberyn’s things on the bed, and having enough, Oberyn walked over to the bald man angrily, and grabbed his shoulders roughly. Varys was taken aback by the tall man’s fury, but Oberyn did not see it that way. 

“I’m not closing the damn door, because no one is going to _have_ a conversation. Get. Out.” Oberyn said menacingly. Varys looked unfazed however, and instead gazed down at his fingernails, rolling the rosemary between his fingers. He pulled out a yellow envelope out of his pocket then, handing it to a reluctant Oberyn.  
“Once you see what’s inside, you’ll want that conversation.” Varys said slyly. 

Glaring at the Spider, Oberyn ripped the envelope apart, ignoring Varys calling him a brute underneath his breath. His attention was caught by the stack of high quality photographs in his hands, and his jaw dropped in shock.

It was pictures of him and Lyanna.

Somehow, Varys had obtained pictures from his date with Lyanna just a few days ago. He flipped through pictures of them getting out of his car, walking to the restaurant, eating ice cream near the window, Lyanna’s dress flying up a bit from the wind, the both of them laughing together and the worst was all of the the pictures of them kissing on the dock. Oberyn flipped through photograph after photograph of him and Lyanna kissing, each picture becoming more intimate as the kiss had dragged on. Oberyn clicked his tongue and stared at his bed as he turned over the photographs so he couldn’t see them. In a low voice, he addressed Varys.

“What the hell do you want?”

“It’s not what I want, but what Cersei Lannister wants.” 

“ _Cersei Lannister_?” Oberyn asked, narrowing his eyes at Varys and stepping closer to him. “You were loyal to the Targaryens.” 

“ _Was. I_ was loyal to the Targaryens. But the Lannisters...had something for me, especially pretty, young Cersei.” 

“You emasculated son of a bitch,” Oberyn growled and moved to throttle the plumper man, but Varys held up a hand to stop him and looked at Oberyn coldly.

“I won’t take being insulted for something that wasn’t my fault. And close the door.”

Glaring at each other, Oberyn went to close the door, and grabbed his phone out and quickly started recording so he could send the conversation to Doran. He’d be damned if Doran didn’t hear what Varys wants from them. Shutting the door, Oberyn walked back to Varys slowly. Varys smiled. 

“If I didn’t know you any better, I’d think you were trying to seduce me.”

“State your purpose, spider. I’m done playing games.” 

Varys cleared his throat. “Cersei wants your support for her father’s campaign for senator.” 

“ _What_? Cersei wants _our_ support? I seem to remember a time when she called the Martells dirty savages.” Oberyn hissed. Varys shrugged.

“The Martell brothers are involved with almost every environmental charity in the city, and Tywin is a big diamond miner with a penchant of not caring about the planet we live in. If you two back his campaign, you’ll paint him in a new light.” Varys replied.

“Cersei knows we’ll never agree to this.”

“That’s what the pictures are for.” 

“So if we don’t agree, she’ll just leak them?” Oberyn scoffed. “I knew she was power hungry, but I had no idea she was so stupid.” 

“Is she, Oberyn?” Varys raised an eyebrow. “Cersei is the chief editor of The Casterly Enquirer, and types the gossip section ‘Casterly Rock n’ Roll’ herself. If she decides to release these pictures, and she _will_ decide at some point, she will paint you in the most scandalous manner. Even if you still decide to support Rhaegar Targaryen, no one will vote for him because they’ll think he associates with scum like you. They’ll think he _married_ into scum and is no better than his father.”

“Don’t speak about Elia that way!” Oberyn made a move to grab Varys by the neck but the spider moved quickly. 

“I only speak what will be interpreted.” 

“Piss…” Oberyn breathed, rubbing the top of his nose. He let it go then and stared at the ceiling, shaking his head in disbelief. “So that’s the genius plan.” 

“Oberyn, do you love this girl in the photos?” Taken aback by very personal question, oberyn glared at Varys. 

“That’s none of your business.” 

“I’ve been told to make it my business.” 

“Well then tell Cersei _no comment_.” He sneered, and then ripped up the photos one by one into small pieces, throwing them in Varys’ face. He looked impassive as small photo pieces fell onto his head and into his robes slowly. Oberyn stepped right in front of Varys and leaned his head down to his height. “ _Get. Out_.” He snarled then, watching as Varys realized that the Red Viper was done talking and ready to bite. Varys maneuvered around him quickly then, scuffling to the front door when he turned around suddenly.

“If you care about the girl at all, you’d follow Cersei’s demand for support.” Oberyn turned around then, staring at the back of Varys’ bald head. 

“Is that a threat against her?” He asked angrily.

Varys turned his head to him. “Think. The media already knows you as a man-whore, and Cersei is willing to twist that into even more. But the girl? You two looked very...intimate with each other. The media will want to know who took out the venom from the Red Viper, and they are certainly willing to go to any length for that. They could very well destroy her.”

“I won’t allow it,” Oberyn said angrily.

“That won’t be up to you if you don’t support Tywin. Does Lyanna Stark have any secrets, Oberyn? I suppose we’ll have to find out.” Varys turned then and left the room, making almost no noise. Oberyn was left in the room to ponder by himself then, as he ran his hands through his hair stressfully.

_What do I do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a review? :) (Oh, and thanks for hanging in there!)


	9. Another Update of Sorts

Hello all,

I must admit, that my creative energy has been shot in the foot repeatedly for the past few months. The storylines for FOB are going off on tangents that I never imagined for it, and I've been trying to correct them as I write, but I feel like they're messy, and I will also admit, I feel like FOB has been a messy story from the beginning. You see, I tend to make a conflict in one chapter, and resolve it in the next because I'm usually like "wtf did I write let me fix that." In the year that this story has been active I feel like my writing has actually gotten better, but this story doesn't show it. I've also learned more about life's complexities and the reality of relationships. I've have always tried my hardest to make the characters, situations and dialogue feel real for a modern AU, but looking back on some of what I've written, I think some things were unnecessarily dramatic. 

I am actually almost done with the next chapter, but it's taken me weeks just to write even five pages. So what I've decided to do is that I'll be taking an indefinite hiatus from FOB. In that time, I'm going to try my hardest to write as much as I can, which may be difficult with school, work and studying for the GRE. My goal is to write 3-5 chapters in that meantime, so I could get back to semi-updating instead of you guys getting an apology letter every so often. 

Finally, I just want to thank you guys for being so supportive of FOB. I uploaded the first chapter of this story somewhere around 4 in the morning last year, and when I opened my email the next day, I read some many wonderful reviews and critiques that made my heart sing that continued on as I wrote. You guys offer insight to so many things, and I'm so glad I can learn from your critiques. Even when I felt like what I updated was garbage, you guys pointed out what you liked and that meant so much. 

Thanks again, and I hope that our next meeting will be an actual update for you guys.


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